Psychiatry Research
Volume 169, Issue 2 , Pages 154-158 , 30 September 2009

Preventing suicide and homicide in the United States: The potential benefit in human lives

  • Fotios C. Papadopoulos

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
    • ,
  • Alkistis Skalkidou

      Affiliations

    • Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
    • ,
  • Theodoros N. Sergentanis

      Affiliations

    • Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece
    • ,
  • Spyros Kyllekidis

      Affiliations

    • Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece
    • ,
  • Lisa Ekselius

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
    • ,
  • Eleni Th. Petridou

      Affiliations

    • Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece
    • Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Athens University Medical School, 75 Mikras Asias Str, Athens 115 27, Greece. Tel.: +30 210 7462187; fax: +30 210 7462105.

Received 4 December 2007 ,Revised 26 May 2008 ,Accepted 12 June 2008.

References 

  1. Beautrais AL, Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ. Firearms legislation and reductions in firearm-related suicide deaths in New Zealand. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2006;40:253–259
  2. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2001 survey data. Available at: http://www.schs.state.nc.us/SCHS/brfss/2001/us/firearm3.html. Accessed September 28, 2007a.
  3. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002 survey data. Available at: http://www.schs.state.nc.us/SCHS/brfss/2002/us/hlthplan.html. Accessed September 28, 2007b.
  4. Brent DA, Perper JA, Goldstein CE, Kolko DJ, Allan MJ, Allman CJ, et al. Risk factors for adolescent suicide. A comparison of adolescent suicide victims with suicidal inpatients. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1988;45:581–588
  5. Bridges FS. Gun control law (Bill C-17), suicide, and homicide in Canada. Psychological Reports. 2004;94:819–826
  6. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment Rates for States, 2001. Available at: http://www.bls.gov/lau/lastrk02.htm. Accessed September 28, 2007.
  7. CDC. Web-based injury statistics query and reporting system (WISQARS™). Available at http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars. Accessed September 28, 2007.
  8. Conner KR, Zhong Y. State firearm laws and rates of suicide in men and women. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2003;25:320–324
  9. Dahlberg LL, Ikeda RM, Kresnow MJ. Guns in the home and risk of a violent death in the home: findings from a national study. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2004;160:929–936
  10. District of Columbia v Heller, No. 07-290, Sup. Ct. Decision, 2008. Available at: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf. Accessed July 11th, 2008.
  11. Federal Bureau of Investigation . Uniform crime reports. 2002;Available at: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/02cius.htm Accessed September 28 2007
  12. Goldney RD. Suicide in Australia: some good news. The Medical Journal of Australia. 2006;185:304
  13. Open Society Institute's Center on Crime, Communities & Culture and the Funder's Collaborative for Gun Violence Prevention . Gun control in the United States: a comparative survey of state firearm laws. 2000;Available at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/articles_publications/publications/gun_report_20000401. Accessed September 28, 2007
  14. Haw C, Sutton L, Simkin S, Gunnell D, Kapur N, Nowers M, et al. Suicide by gunshot in the United Kingdom: a review of the literature. Medicine, Science, and the Law. 2004;44:295–310
  15. Homicide and suicide rates—national violent death reporting system, six states, 2003. MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2005, 54, 377–380.
  16. Homicides and suicides—national violent death reporting system, United States, 2003–2004. MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2006, 55, 721–724.
  17. Kapusta ND, Etzersdorfer E, Krall C, Sonneck G. Firearm legislation reform in the European Union: impact on firearm availability, firearm suicide and homicide rates in Austria. The British Journal of Psychiatry. 2007;191:253–257
  18. Kellermann AL, Rivara FP, Rushforth NB, Banton JG, Reay DT, Francisco JT, et al. Gun ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the home. The New England Journal of Medicine. 1993;329:1084–1091
  19. Kposowa AJ. Unemployment and suicide: a cohort analysis of social factors predicting suicide in the US National Longitudinal Mortality Study. Psychological Medicine. 2001;31:127–138
  20. Loftin C, McDowall D, Wiersema B, Cottey TJ. Effects of restrictive licensing of handguns on homicide and suicide in the District of Columbia. The New England Journal of Medicine. 1991;325:1615–1620
  21. Ludwig J, Cook PJ. Homicide and suicide rates associated with implementation of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. The Journal of the American Medical Association. 2000;284:585–591
  22. Marinho de Souza Mde F, Macinko J, Alencar AP, Malta DC, de Morais Neto OL. Reductions in firearm-related mortality and hospitalizations in Brazil after gun control. Health Affairs (Millwood). 2007;26:575–584
  23. Miller M, Azrael D, Hemenway D. Household firearm ownership and suicide rates in the United States. Epidemiology. 2002;13:517–524
  24. Miller M, Azrael D, Hemenway D. Rates of household firearm ownership and homicide across US regions and states, 1988–1997. American Journal of Public Health. 2002;92:1988–1993
  25. Miller M, Lippmann SJ, Azrael D, Hemenway D. Household firearm ownership and rates of suicide across the 50 United States. The Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection and Critical Care. 2007;62:1029–1034discussion 1034-1035
  26. Philippakis A, Hemenway D, Alexe DM, Dessypris N, Spyridopoulos T, Petridou E. A quantification of preventable unintentional childhood injury mortality in the United States. Injury Prevention. 2004;10:79–82
  27. Rich CL, Young JG, Fowler RC, Wagner J, Black NA. Guns and suicide: possible effects of some specific legislation. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1990;147:342–346
  28. SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2002 and 2003. Available at: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k3State/ch5.htm Accessed September 28, 2007.
  29. Stone DH, Jeffrey S, Dessypris N, Kyllekidis S, Chishti P, Papadopoulos FC, et al. Intentional injury mortality in the European Union: how many more lives could be saved?. Injury Prevention. 2006;12:327–332
  30. Tondo L, Albert MJ, Baldessarini RJ. Suicide rates in relation to health care access in the United States: an ecological study. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2006;67:517–523
  31. Tushnet M. Interpreting the right to bear arms — gun regulation and constitutional law. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;358:1424–1426
  32. U.S. Census Bureau, 2002 American Community Survey. Available at: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Ranking/2002/R01T040.htm. Accessed September 28, 2007.
  33. Vigdor ER, Mercy JA. Do laws restricting access to firearms by domestic violence offenders prevent intimate partner homicide?. Evaluation Review. 2006;30:313–346
  34. WHO Suicide Rates (per 100,000), by country, year, and gender. Available at: http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/. Accessed March 20, 2008.
  35. Wintemute GJ. Guns, fear, the constitution, and the public's health. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;358(14):1421–1424

PII: S0165-1781(08)00184-4

doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2008.06.038

Psychiatry Research
Volume 169, Issue 2 , Pages 154-158 , 30 September 2009

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution