Firearm Legislation and Firearm-Related Fatalities in the United States

[billh58]

From: JAMA Intern Med. 2013 http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1661390

Importance Over 30 000 people die annually in the United States from injuries caused by firearms. Although most firearm laws are enacted by states, whether the laws are associated with rates of firearm deaths is uncertain.

Objective To evaluate whether more firearm laws in a state are associated with fewer firearm fatalities.

Design Using an ecological and cross-sectional method, we retrospectively analyzed all firearm-related deaths reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System from 2007 through 2010. We used state-level firearm legislation across 5 categories of laws to create a “legislative strength score,” and measured the association of the score with state mortality rates using a clustered Poisson regression. States were divided into quartiles based on their score.

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Results Over the 4-year study period, there were 121 084 firearm fatalities. The average state-based firearm fatality rates varied from a high of 17.9 (Louisiana) to a low of 2.9 (Hawaii) per 100 000 individuals per year. Annual firearm legislative strength scores ranged from 0 (Utah) to 24 (Massachusetts) of 28 possible points. States in the highest quartile of legislative strength (scores of ≥9) had a lower overall firearm fatality rate than those in the lowest quartile (scores of ≤2) (absolute rate difference, 6.64 deaths/100 000/y; age-adjusted incident rate ratio [IRR], 0.58; 95% CI, 0.37-0.92). Compared with the quartile of states with the fewest laws, the quartile with the most laws had a lower firearm suicide rate (absolute rate difference, 6.25 deaths/100 000/y; IRR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.48-0.83) and a lower firearm homicide rate (absolute rate difference, 0.40 deaths/100 000/y; IRR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.38-0.95).

Conclusions and Relevance A higher number of firearm laws in a state are associated with a lower rate of firearm fatalities in the state, overall and for suicides and homicides individually. As our study could not determine cause-and-effect relationships, further studies are necessary to define the nature of this association.

The evidence is clear: Sane gun control legislation lowers gun violence.

[Hoyt]

1. Unfortunately, those who need lots of gunz in their lives will discount this and

send in a donation to NRA (or similar gun promoting organizations), and candidates who will support their addiction/appetite.

[billh58]

2. But the homicide rate

has been falling steadily (so say the Second Amendment absolutists):

From the link:

"In 2010, firearms killed 68% of the 16,259 victims of homicide. In the same year, there were 38,364 suicides, of which 51% were by firearms."

I wonder if they (cold-dead-hands types) have given consideration to the fact that crime is down overall due to increased communication capabilities between law enforcement agencies, and improved ER response and care.

[Hoyt]

3. I agree, crime is down for those reasons and aging population.

If crime were zero, the gun needy would still find a reason(s) to pack and accumulate more of them.

If gun fanciers had a team of armed guards around the clock, they'd still carry a gun and have a closet full at home to fondle when they feel the urge.