Title: Firearm Availability and Female Homicide Victimization Rates Among 25 Populous High-Income Countries

Publication Date: March 2002

What does it say?

This study looks at the association between the availability of guns and the rate of female homicide among high-income countries (as classified by the World Bank based on gross national product per capita). The United States was found to have the highest level of household gun ownership and the highest female homicide rate.

The rate of female homicides in the U.S. is vastly disproportionate in terms of population compared to other high-income countries. “The United States accounted for 32% of the female population in these high income countries, but for 70% of all female homicides and 84% of all female firearm homicides.”

The study concludes that: “Among high-income countries, where firearms are more available, more women are homicide victims.” This general trend was largely due to the disproportionate numbers of female homicides in the United States. In fact the U.S. was found to be an outlier since:  “US women are at far higher risk of homicide victimization than are women in any other high-income country.”

How can I use it?

Tighter controls over the availability of household guns need to be adopted and enforced in order to reduce the disproportionate rate of female firearm homicides in the U.S. compared with other high-income countries.

Citation

Hemenway, David, Tomoko Shinoda-Tagawa and Matthew Miller., “Firearm Availability and Female Homicide Victimization Rates Among 25 Populous High-Income Countries,” Journal of the American Medical Women's Association, 57(2) (2009): 100-104