IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/10.2105-ajph.2015.302753_5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Suicide rates and state laws regulating access and exposure to handguns

Author

Listed:
  • Anestis, M.D.
  • Anestis, J.C.

Abstract

Objectives. Using previous research, we examined the impact of 4 handgun laws (waiting periods, universal background checks, gun locks, and open carrying regulations) on suicide rates. Methods. We used publicly available databases to collect information on statewide laws, suicide rates, and demographic characteristics for 2013. Results. Each law was associated with significantly lower firearm suicide rates and the proportion of suicides resulting from firearms. In addition, each law, except for that which required a waiting period, was associated with a lower overall suicide rate. Follow-up analyses showed a significant indirect effect on overall suicide rates through the proportion of suicides by firearms, indicating that the reduced overall suicide rate was attributable to fewer suicide attempts, fewer handguns in the home, suicide attempts using less lethal means, or a combination of these factors. States that implemented any of these laws saw a decreased suicide rate in subsequent years, whereas the only state that repealed 1 of these laws saw an increased suicide rate. Conclusions. Our results were supportive of a potentially vital role in suicide prevention for state legislation that limits access and exposure to handguns.

Suggested Citation

  • Anestis, M.D. & Anestis, J.C., 2015. "Suicide rates and state laws regulating access and exposure to handguns," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(10), pages 2049-2058.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2015.302753_5
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302753
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302753
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302753?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vars, Fredrick E. & Meadows, Benjamin & Edwards, Griffin, 2022. "Slipping Through the Cracks? The Impact of Reporting Mental Health Records to the National Firearm Background Check System," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 52-74.
    2. Marcos Vinicius de Carvalho Mendes & Solange Laurentino dos Santos & Claudia Cristina Lima de Castro & Betise Mery Alencar Sousa Macau Furtado & Heitor Victor Veiga da Costa & Albanita Gomes da Costa , 2021. "Analysis of Factors Associated with the Risk of Suicide in a Brazilian Capital: Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Wolsko, Christopher & Marino, Elizabeth & Keys, Susan, 2020. "Affirming cultural values for health: The case of firearm restriction in suicide prevention," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    4. Perry, Seth W & Allison, Stephen & Bastiampillai, Tarun & Wong, Ma-Li & Licinio, Julio & Sharfstein, Steven S. & Wilcox, Holly C., 2019. "Rising US Suicides: Achieving Health Equity," OSF Preprints m5q64, Center for Open Science.
    5. Barati, Mehdi & Adams, Scott, 2019. "Enhanced penalties for carrying firearms illegally and their effects on crime," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 207-219.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2015.302753_5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.