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The association between the purchase of a handgun and homicide or suicide.
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine whether purchase of a handgun from a licensed dealer is associated with the risk of homicide or suicide and whether any association varies in relation to time since purchase. METHODS: A case-control study was done among the members of a large health maintenance organization. Case subjects were the 353 suicide victims and 117 homicide victims among the members from 1980 through 1992. Five control subjects were matched to each case subject on age, sex, and zip code of residence. Handgun purchase information was obtained from the Department of Licensing. RESULTS: The adjusted relative risk of suicide was 1.9 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4, 2.5) for persons with a history of family handgun purchase from a registered dealer. The adjusted relative risk for homicide, given a history of family handgun purchase, was 2.2 (95% CI = 1.3, 3.7). For both suicide and homicide, the elevated relative risks persisted for more than 5 years after the purchase. CONCLUSIONS: Legal purchase of a handgun appears to be associated with a long-lasting increased risk of violent death.
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Citations
Cited by
Gun Storage Practices and Risk of Youth Suicide and Unintentional Firearm Injuries
Grossman, D. C. (2005) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.293.6.707 · Cited by 684
Self-citationAnglemyer, A., Horvath, T., & Rutherford, G. (2014) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/m13-1301 · Cited by 623
Shaffer, D., & Pfeffer, C. R. (2001) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00004583-200107001-00003 · Cited by 460
Miller, M., Azrael, D., & Barber, C. (2012) · Annual Review of Public Health · doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031811-124636 · Cited by 265
Access to Firearms and Risk for Suicide in Middle-Aged and Older Adults
Conwell, Y., Duberstein, P. R., Connor, K., Eberly, S., Cox, C., & Caine, E. D. (2002) · The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00019442-200207000-00007 · Cited by 263
Metadata
- Authors
- Cummings, P., Koepsell, T. D., Grossman, D. C., Savarino, J., & Thompson, R. S.
- Venue
- American Journal of Public Health
- Publisher
- American Public Health Association
- Published
- 1997-06
- Volume
- 87
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 974-978
- ISSN
- 0090-0036 (ISSN-L)
- 1541-0048
- OpenAlex
- W2074041817
- Cited by
- 224
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 14.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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- Cummings, P., Koepsell, T. D., Grossman, D. C., Savarino, J., & Thompson, R. S. (1997). The association between the purchase of a handgun and homicide or suicide. American Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.87.6.974
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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