2006/09/01 by Vladeta Ajdacic‐Gross, Martin Killias, Urs Hepp +6 · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Gun Ownership and Violence Research #Suicide and Self-Harm Studies #Crime Patterns and Interventions
paper · doi:10.2105/ajph.2005.075812
openalex publication_date 2006/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/19
We investigated changes in the proportion of firearm suicides in Western countries since the 1980s and the relation of these changes to the change in the proportion of households owning firearms. Several countries had an obvious decline in firearm suicides: Norway, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Multilevel modeling of longitudinal data confirmed the effect of the proportion of households owning firearms. Legislation and regulatory measures reducing the availability of firearms in private households can distinctly strengthen the prevention of firearm suicides.