Access to Firearms and Risk of Suicide: a Case-Control Study

The association between firearm access & suicide risk was studied in a consecutive sample of individuals who made serious suicide attempts. A case-control design compared 197 suicide victims, 302 people who made serious suicide attempts & 1028 controls. Results presented by the authors indicated that for this sample, access to a firearm was not associated with a significant increase in suicide risk, although such access increased the probability that a firearm would chosen for a suicide attempt.