Access To Guns Triples Suicide Risk; Should US Firearm Regulations Be Tighter?
A person with a gun is nearly twice as likely to get murdered than others, but also three times as likely to take his or her own life.
Investigators from the University of California at San Francisco reviewed 15 studies on the subject of gun violence in America, excluding survey data to focus on more specific information from academic inquiries. Thirteen of the studies were conducted in the United States, with seven occurring after a 1996 federal law — a Clinton/Dole compromise — that banned the U.S. Health Department from funding research that might promote gun control.
Essentially, the team found a higher prevalence of gun ownership in the U.S. than anywhere in the world, with an estimated 31,000 annual deaths from firearms. Among those with access to a gun, including gun owners and others in a household, men were four times as likely to commit suicide than others, while women were nearly three times as likely to be a gunshot victim.
"Our analysis shows that having access to firearms is a significant risk factor for men committing suicide and for women being victims of homicide," Andrew Anglemyer, an expert in study design and data analytics in clinical pharmacy, said in a university press release ahead of the study's publication on Monday. "Since empirical data suggest that most victims of homicide know their assailants, the higher risk for women strongly indicates domestic violence."
http://www.medicaldaily.com/access-guns-triples-suicide-risk-should-us-firearm-regulations-be-tighter-267428
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