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Gun Violence Statistics and Studies
FIREARMS AND SUICIDE
Keeping a firearm in the home triples the risk of suicide and increases the risk of suicide with a firearm by a factor of 171. Thirty-four percent of U. S. households contain a gun2, and half of gun-owning households don't lock up their guns, including 40 percent of households with kids under age 183.
- Suicide attempts with firearms are much more likely to be fatal than attempts with other methods. Firearms are used in only 5% of all suicide attempts, but more than 90% of the attempts are fatal. In comparison, drugs or cutting are the methods used in 85% of suicide attempts, but the attempt is fatal only 3% of the time.4
- Too many people die from firearm suicides in the U.S. In 2005, 17,002 U.S. residents killed themselves with a firearm, including over 2300 young people (ages 10-25).5 To see a breakdown of firearm suicides by age, click here. To see an overview of the problem of suicide in the United States, click here.
- If suicide is attempted with a firearm, it is almost certain the person will die. Many fewer people make it to the hospital than would be the case if another method were used. Consequently, the number of hospitalizations for firearm suicide attempts is much lower than the number of deaths. In 2005, only 3,190 people survived an attempt to kill themselves with a gun and made it to the hospital. To see a breakdown of suicide attempts with firearms by age, click here.
- Firearm suicide is a problem among young people. Almost 50 percent of youth suicides (ages 10-25) are committed with guns, making firearm suicide the 4th leading cause of death for this age group.6
- Youth who commit firearm suicide usually get the gun from a parent. Eighty-five percent of youths under age 18 who died by firearm suicide used a family member's gun, usually a parent's.7
- States with high household gun ownership have more suicides than states with low household gun ownership. The excess suicides are almost entirely due to firearms.8
- A gun in the home is more likely to be used in a suicide than to be used in self-defense. A gun in the home is 11 times more likely to be used in an attempted suicide than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.9
Updated April 2008
Endnotes:
1. Douglas Wiebe, "Homicide and Suicide Risks Associated with Firearms in the Home: A National Case-Control Study," Annals of Internal Medicine 41 (2003):771-782.
2. Tom Smith, Public Attitudes Towards the Regulation of Firearms (2006), (Chicago, Illinois: National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago, 2007): Figure 2. See also, Lisa Hepburn, Matthew Miller, Deborah Azrael, David Hemenway, "The U. S. Gun Stock: Results from the 2004 National Firearms Survey," Injury Prevention 13 (2007): 16. The number of guns in the home is estimated via telephone survey research. The U. S. does not register guns, so it is not possible to count them.
3. Renee Johnson, Tamera Coyne-Beasley, Carol Runyan, "Firearm Ownership and Storage Practices, U.S. Households, 1992–2002: A Systematic Review," American Journal of Preventive Medicine 27:2 (2007): 175.
4. Matthew Miller, David Hemenway, Deborah Azrael, "Firearms and Suicide in the Northeast," Journal of Trauma 57 (2004):626-632. (See also: E. D. Shenassa, S. N. Catlin, S. L Buka, "Lethality of Firearms Relative to Other Suicide Methods: A Population Based Study," Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 57 (2003): 120-124. For public awareness materials on the importance of reducing access to the most lethal means of suicide -- guns -- click here.
5. Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, with data from CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (2005, most recent year available), www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/
6. Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, with data from CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (2005, most recent year available), www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/
7. Harvard Injury Control Research Center, National Violent Injury Statistics Center, Characteristics of Victims of Suicide (Boston, MA: Harvard School of Public Health, 2001). See also Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Means Matter: Suicide, Guns, and Public Health (Boston, MA: Harvard School of Public Health, 2007) available at: http://www.sprc.org/library/MeansMatter.pdf.
8.Matthew Miller, Steven Lippmann, Deborah Azrael, David Hemenway, "Household Firearm Ownership and Rates of Suicide across the 50 United States," Journal of Trauma 62 (2007):1029-1035.
9. A. L. Kellermann, "Injuries and Deaths due to Firearms in the Home," Journal of Trauma 45:2 (1998):263-67.
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