Firearm Type and Number: Examining Differences among Firearm Owning Suicide Decedents

Abstract

Objective

The present study sought to determine if among a sample of firearm owning suicide decedents, the type and number of firearms owned was associated with dying by suicide using a firearm compared to another method.

Method

Data were collected as part of a larger online study that gathered information on suicide decedents and the context surrounding their death from family members and friends. The present study used data from those who owned at least one firearm (n = 121). Participants in the present study were mostly male and white.

Results

Among firearm owners, handgun ownership was significantly associated with dying by suicide using a firearm compared to using another method. The number of firearms owned was inversely associated with using a firearm compared to another method in a suicide death. The average number of firearms owned was higher among those who owned shotguns compared to handguns.

Conclusions

Handgun ownership, not shotgun ownership, was associated with having died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The finding regarding number of firearms should be interpreted with caution. Overall, findings provide insight into what differentiates firearm owners who die by suicide using a firearm compared to another method.

Keywords:

• Firearm ownership
• handguns
• means safety
• number of firearms
• suicide prevention

Notes

1 Another logistic regression controlling for age, a demographic variable associated with method selection, was run. The findings did not change. Race and sex, two variables that are also associated with method selection and number of firearms owned could not be included in the analysis because <10% of the sample was reported to identify as a race other than white or as women.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Allison E. Bond

Allison E. Bond is a second year doctoral student in the Suicide and Emotion Dysregulation Laboratory at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her research interests include the association between firearms and suicide and the ideation-to-action framework. Department of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA.

Michael D. Anestis

Michael D. Anestis serves as the executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and as Associate Professor of Urban-Global Public Health at Rutgers University. His research interests focus primarily on suicidal behavior. New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.