Resource Tag: FIREARMS

Objective  To evaluate the association between the amount of alcohol consumed and the probability of using a firearm as the method of suicide. Design, Setting, and Participants  This cross-sectional study used mortality data from the US National Violent Death Reporting System on suicide decedents aged 18 years or older with a positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC; ie, […]

Firearms are a leading cause of paediatric mortality in the United States. This study examines the contributing factors of racial disparity and disproportionality among paediatric firearm decedents aged 0–17 years. We used the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) to assess the individual and incident-level circumstances of paediatric firearm homicides from 2014 to 2018 in […]

Background Firearms account for over 40,000 deaths in the USA each year in addition to thousands of nonfatal injuries. One notable prevention strategy for firearm-related fatalities and nonfatal injuries is safe storage. Safe storage of firearms emphasizes using storage mechanisms that limit ready access of firearms to unauthorized users. Cable locks are one safe storage […]

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between the amount of alcohol consumed and the probability of using a firearm as the method of suicide. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cross-sectional study used mortality data from the US National Violent Death Reporting System on suicide decedents aged 18 years or older with a positive blood alcohol concentration  […]

In 2019, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) hosted the inaugural Medical Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention. The Summit convened representatives from 44 major medical, public health, and injury prevention professional organizations with a goal to develop consensus on collaborative opportunities to address the growing problem of firearm-related injury and death in the US.1 The […]

Objectives Causes of suicide are complex indicating a nation’s psycho-socio-economic well-being hence this population-based study explores whether USA suicides worsened compared to nineteen Other Western Countries (OWC) being possibly related to gun ownership in the 21st Century. Methods Total suicide data are drawn from the latest WHO Age-Standardised-Death-Rates per million (pm) controlled for age, sex, and population, […]

Importance: US residents report broad access to firearms, which are the most common means of suicide death in the US. Standardized firearm access questions during routine health care encounters are uncommon despite potential benefits for suicide prevention. Objective: To explore patient and clinician experiences with a standard question about firearm access on a self-administered mental health questionnaire […]

Objectives In 2013, the state of Maryland passed the Firearms Safety Act limiting the private sales of handguns, which did not apply to long guns often used for hunting (e.g., rifles and shotguns). This decreased the accessibility of handguns relative to long guns. We assessed the frequency of long gun suicides in the years before […]

Introduction In 2020, 45 979 people died by suicide in the US; half used firearms.1 We identified studies on how US adults think about the association between household guns and suicide.2,3 One study reported that 46% of emergency department clinicians believed that most people who die by suicide using firearms would have found another way to die by […]

Firearm availability has been linked to firearm self-harm, but the joint relationship with alcohol availability, while supported by theory, has not been examined. This study sought to quantify the separate and joint relations of community firearm and alcohol availability with individual-level risk of (fatal and nonfatal) firearm self-harm. We conducted a case-control study of California […]

Background Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States, with over half of cases involving firearms. Despite research indicating negative effects of exposure to suicide, there is little research on who typically finds the body of the suicide decedent. Understanding who finds the body of the suicide decedent may be important […]

Background: Epidemiological evidence links Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to increased risk of suicide. The research aimed to describe awareness among primary care pediatricians (PCPs) of ADHD as a  risk factor for suicide and PCPs’ practices of suicide risk assessment (SRA) and firearms safety assessment (FSA) in teens with ADHD. Method: An online survey was […]

Background: Firearm suicide is a significant public health problem in the United States of America among the general and veteran populations. Broad-based preventive strategies, including lethal means safety, have been emphasized as a key approach to suicide prevention. Prior research has identified ways to improve the reach and uptake of lethal means safety messages. However, few […]

Objective We investigated whether high school students reporting easy access to guns were more likely to die prematurely from either suicide, homicide, or an accidental death. Method Based upon the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we contrasted those reporting easy access to guns, n = 5,185, 25%, with the remaining 75% (n = 15,589) on various sociodemographic […]

Objective Firearms are a highly lethal and commonly used means of suicide. Firearm retailers may be an important group of community members to train as they guide sales and have conversations about firearm-related laws and safety issues with customers. This study presents findings from the largest survey to date of independently owned firearm retailers (n = 178) […]

Objective Veterans die by suicide at a higher rate than the U.S. population, and veterans more frequently use a firearm as the suicide method. Consequently, firearm accessibility and storage represent important prevention considerations. This project aimed to explore the implementation of suicide prevention efforts among veterans who went on to die by suicide, with and […]

Objective Firearm means safety strategies, such as safe storage, are effective in reducing suicide rates but are not widely implemented in the United States. This study examined the association between reason for firearm ownership, beliefs about firearm ownership and storage and suicide risk, willingness to engage in means safety, and current firearm storage practices. Method […]

Objective This study examined emergency department (ED) and behavioral health (BH) provider attitudes and behaviors related to lethal means screening and counseling of patients with suicide risk, specifically examining differences by provider type and whether providers had firearms in their own home. Methods Emergency department providers (physicians and mid-level practitioners) and behavioral health (BH) providers […]

Background Many studies have found that state gun laws that regulate the purchase and possession of firearms can lead to a reduction in suicide rates. Yet, the literature has primarily focused on the effects of state gun laws on adult suicides, despite the fact that some gun laws are specifically tailored to restrict the purchase […]

Objectives To describe the characteristics of military personnel and veterans who decline to answer survey items asking about firearm availability at home, and to determine how these characteristics compare to those of military personnel and veterans who answered these items. Methods Self-report surveys were administered to 2025 military personnel and veterans visiting a primary care […]

Objective The U.S. suicide rate has increased 35% since 1999. The role of the Internet has not been thoroughly investigated despite Internet use more than doubling from 1999 to present. The majority of U.S. suicide deaths are by firearm; however, there is no examination of the association between trends in firearm Internet searches and overall […]

Background The suicide rate among Veterans is 1.5 times greater than that for civilians, partly a result of the high use of firearms as the means for suicide. One effective strategy to reduce Veteran suicide by firearms is to provide counseling on firearm safety as a method of means reduction. However, many clinicians do not […]

Objective To describe life experiences associated with patterns of medically treated and documented self-directed violence among youth who attempted suicide using highly lethal means to understand precipitating factors among youth using such lethal means. Method Using data from a regional, level 1 Trauma center, we identified all youth suicide attempt survivors who received treatment from […]