Firearm suicide in Queensland

The purpose of this article is to examine firearm suicide in Queensland. In 2006, statistical data were gathered from all closed paper coronial files for the 12-month period of December 2003—December 2004. Of the 567 people who committed suicide in Queensland during this period, 48 (8.5%) used firea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of sociology (Melbourne, Vic.) Vic.), 2010-03, Vol.46 (1), p.83-98
Main Authors: Tait, Gordon, Carpenter, Belinda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aborigines
Age
Age factors
Age groups
Arms control
Australia
Criminal sociology. Police. Delinquency. Deviance. Suicide
Ethnicity
Firearm laws & regulations
Firearms
Gender differences
Gender differentiation
Legislation
Mental illness
Mortality Rates
Queensland
Queensland: Law and legislation
Queensland: Social conditions
Risk
Sex factors
Sociology
Sociology of law and criminology
Statistical analysis
Suicide
Suicides & suicide attempts
Weapons
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Summary:The purpose of this article is to examine firearm suicide in Queensland. In 2006, statistical data were gathered from all closed paper coronial files for the 12-month period of December 2003—December 2004. Of the 567 people who committed suicide in Queensland during this period, 48 (8.5%) used firearms. The following results emerge from this data: first, gun suicides are continuing to decrease in Queensland, most likely as a function of ongoing gun controls, a decrease accompanied by a lesser increase in other methods of suicide, thereby providing little support for substitution theory; second, men continue to be more likely to shoot themselves, particularly elderly men; third, firearms are more likely to be used in rural settings, and by those with no known history of mental illness or previous suicide attempts. Finally, in spite of otherwise very high suicide rates, Aborigines rarely employ firearms, using instead the culturally significant method of hanging.
ISSN:1440-7833
1741-2978
DOI:10.1177/1440783309337673