Title: Gun Suicide by Young People in California: Descriptive Epidemiology and Gun Ownership

Publication Date: January 2008

What does it say?

Guns used in firearm suicides by people aged 20 years or fewer in California were most often owned by the victim or by a family member living in the victim’s household.  Handgun ownership is illegal for this age group, yet of the suicides with a gun reportedly owned by the victim, 32 percent were commited with handguns. 

Overall, 63 percent of the guns used in the suicides were handguns (whether illegally “owned” by the youth, belonging to someone else in the household or obtained outside the home).

How can I use it?

The facts in this study support requiring handguns to be manufactured with owner-authorized technology to prevent handgun suicides by young people.

Citation

Wright, Mona A., Wintemute Garen J., Claire, Barbara E. "Gun Suicide by Young People in California: Descriptive Epidemiology and Gun Ownership" Journal of Adolescent Health 43(2008): 619-622

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