Guns in the Home and Risk of a Violent Death in the Home: Findings from a National Study

Data from a US mortality follow-back survey were analyzed to determine whether having a firearm in the home increases the risk of a violent death in the home and whether risk varies by storage practice, type of gun, or number of guns in the home. Those persons with guns in the home were at greater r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of epidemiology 2004-11, Vol.160 (10), p.929-936
Main Authors: Dahlberg, Linda L., Ikeda, Robin M., Kresnow, Marcie-jo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accident prevention
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Age Distribution
Analysis. Health state
Biological and medical sciences
Black or African American
Black People
Confidence Intervals
Domestic Violence - statistics & numerical data
Epidemiology
Female
Firearms
General aspects
homicide
Humans
Male
Manslaughter
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Mortality
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Risk assessment
Risk Factors
Sex Distribution
Suicide
Suicide - statistics & numerical data
United States - epidemiology
violence
White People
wounds and injuries
Wounds, Gunshot - epidemiology
Wounds, Gunshot - mortality
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Summary:Data from a US mortality follow-back survey were analyzed to determine whether having a firearm in the home increases the risk of a violent death in the home and whether risk varies by storage practice, type of gun, or number of guns in the home. Those persons with guns in the home were at greater risk than those without guns in the home of dying from a homicide in the home (adjusted odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 3.4). They were also at greater risk of dying from a firearm homicide, but risk varied by age and whether the person was living with others at the time of death. The risk of dying from a suicide in the home was greater for males in homes with guns than for males without guns in the home (adjusted odds ratio = 10.4, 95% confidence interval: 5.8, 18.9). Persons with guns in the home were also more likely to have died from suicide committed with a firearm than from one committed by using a different method (adjusted odds ratio = 31.1, 95% confidence interval: 19.5, 49.6). Results show that regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home.
ISSN:0002-9262
1476-6256
0002-9262
DOI:10.1093/aje/kwh309