Gun ownership and suicide not a good mix

by William Atkins

Friday, 19 September 2008

Page 1 of 3 ! In the scientific paper “Guns and Suicide in the United States," authors Matthew Miller and David Hemenway discuss the direct relationship between the number of suicides and gun ownership. They found that the U.S. states with the most gun owners also saw the highest number of suicides. Dr. Matthew Miller is the associate director and Dr. David Hemenway is the director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The September 4, 2008 article in The New England Journal of Medicine (volume 359:989-991, number 10), the two scientists begin by saying “This past June, in a 5-to-4 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court struck down a ban on handgun ownership in the nation's capital and ruled that the District's law requiring all firearms in the home to be locked violated the Second Amendment.” They continue, “But the Supreme Court's finding of a Second Amendment right to have a handgun in the home does not mean that it is a wise decision to own a gun or to keep it easily accessible. Deciding whether to own a gun entails balancing potential benefits and risks. One of the risks for which the empirical evidence is strongest, and the risk whose death toll is greatest, is that of completed suicide.” The two scientists state statistics on deaths by suicide in the latest year available, 2005. Suicide, according to Miller and Hemenway, was the second highest cause of premature death among U.S. citizens 40 years of age or younger. In addition, for all Americans, over 50% of all suicides are carried out with the use of a firearm. They state “In 2005, an average of 46 Americans per day committed suicide with a firearm, accounting for 53% of all completed suicides. Gun suicide during this period accounted for 40% more deaths than gun homicide." Page two continues the results of their study on gun ownership and suicides. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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