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. 2016 Jul;106(7):1316-22.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303182. Epub 2016 May 19.

Firearm Ownership and Suicide Rates Among US Men and Women, 1981-2013

Michael Siegel  1 , Emily F Rothman  1
Affiliations

Firearm Ownership and Suicide Rates Among US Men and Women, 1981-2013

Michael Siegel et al. Am J Public Health. 2016 Jul.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the relationship between state-level firearm ownership rates and gender-specific, age-adjusted firearm and total suicide rates across all 50 US states from 1981 to 2013.

Methods: We used panel data for all 50 states that included annual overall and gender-specific suicide and firearm suicide rates and a proxy for state-level household firearm ownership. We analyzed data by using linear regression and generalized estimating equations to account for clustering.

Results: State-level firearm ownership was associated with an increase in both male and female firearm-related suicide rates and with a decrease in nonfirearm-related suicide rates. Higher gun ownership was associated with higher suicide rates by any means among male, but not among female, persons.

Conclusions: We found a strong relationship between state-level firearm ownership and firearm suicide rates among both genders, and a relationship between firearm ownership and suicides by any means among male, but not female, individuals.

Policy implications: For male persons, policies that reduce firearm ownership will likely reduce suicides by all means and by firearms. For female persons, such policies will likely reduce suicides by firearms.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Relationship Between Average State-Level Gun Ownership and Average Male Age-Adjusted Firearm Suicide Rate: United States, 1981–2013 Note. FS = firearm suicide; y = 0.3209x + 1.022; R2 = 0.71.
FIGURE 2—
FIGURE 2—
Relationship Between Average State-Level Gun Ownership and Average Female Age-Adjusted Firearm Suicide Rate: United States, 1981–2013 Note. FS = firearm suicide; y = 0.0517x – 0.0923; R2 = 0.49.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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