Tougher Gun Laws May Reduce Firearm Suicides, Homicides, Study Finds

Counties in and adjacent to states with stronger gun laws have fewer firearm deaths than counties in and adjacent to states with weaker laws, according tofindings published today inJAMA Internal Medicine. The study suggests that strengthening state firearm policies may prevent firearm suicide and homicide, with benefits that may extend beyond state lines.“States regulate how firearms are bought, sold, and tracked, as well as who may purchase them,” Elinore J. Kaufman, M.D., M.S.H.P., of the Department of Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medicine and colleagues wrote. “Stronger firearm policy environments have been associated with lower rates of firearm deaths, as have specific laws, such as licensing and inspection of firearm dealers, licensing and background checks for handgun sales, including private sales and laws regulating the availability of inexpensive handguns. Laws, however, vary widely among states, and evidence o f their impact is limited.”Kaufman and colleagues examined the effect of home state and out-of-state firearm laws on firearm death rates in U.S. counties between January 2010 and December 2014 by analyzing counts of death attributed to firearm suicide and homicide for 3,108 counties in the 48 contiguous states of the United States. Each county was assigned two scores, a state policy score based on the strength of its state firearm laws, and an interstate policy score based on the firearm laws of nearby states. Counties were divided in...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Elinore Kaufman firearm laws firearm violence firearms guns homicide Liza Gold Robert Steinbrook suicide suicide ideation Source Type: research