Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T17:29:24.367Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Gun ownership and suicide in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

David Lester*
Affiliation:
Richard Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey, USA
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr David Lester, Richard Stockton State College, Pomona, New Jersey, 08240, USA.

Synopsis

The circulation of firearm magazines was used as an index of gun ownership in the states of the USA. States with a higher per capita circulation of firearm magazines had higher suicide rates by gun and higher overall suicide rates. Homicide rates were unrelated to this measure of gun availability. Implications for the prevention of suicide are discussed.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boyd, J. (1983). The increasing rate of suicide by firearms. New England Journal of Medicine 308, 872874.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clarke, R. V. & Lester, D. (1987). Toxicity of car exhausts and opportunity for suicide. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 41, 114120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clarke, R. V. & Mayhew, P. (1988). The British gas story and its criminological implications. Crime & Justice 10, 79116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, P. J. (1982). The role of firearms in violent crime. In Criminal Violence (ed. Wolfgang, M. and Weiner, N.), pp. 236291. Sage: Beverly Hills.Google Scholar
Lester, D. (1987). Availability of guns and the likelihood of suicide. Sociology and Social Research 71, 287288.Google Scholar
Lester, D. & Murrell, M. E. (1982). The preventive effect of strict gun controls laws on suicide and homicide. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviour 12, 131140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Center for Vital Statistics (1985). Vital Statistics of the United States, 1980. US Government Printing Office: Washington, DC. Google Scholar