Ready access to a firearm makes people more than three times as likely to die by suicide and nearly twice as likely to die by homicide than their adult counterparts without the ability to quickly get their hands on a gun.
This is according to the first-ever meta-analysis of gun research published Tuesday in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers identified a significant gender gap in danger. While men are 29 percent more likely to die in a gun related homicide than their adult counterparts without access, a woman with a gun in the house is nearly three times more likely to be killed by a homicidal act. “Because most homicide victims know their perpetrators, this finding may indicate an impulsive reaction to domestic disputes,” notes the study.
In the United States, where gun ownership is more prevalent than any other country in the world, firearms are responsible for an estimated 31,000 deaths per year.
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