Gun laws reduce child suicides, have no impact on homicides

New research from Duke University has found that some gun laws can prevent firearm suicides among children and teens. States with safe storage laws and mandatory waiting periods had lower rates of suicide among children 18 and younger.

The study found that these laws did not reduce the risk of children being killed with a firearm.

Lead researcher Dr. Krista Haines is an assistant professor of surgery and population health sciences at Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina. Haines told USA TODAY that there has been an increase in firearm deaths across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There aren’t a lot of interventions that we think work,” Haines said. “When we looked at what legislation is out there that actually works, we thought this would be a good place to start.”

Researchers looked at 36 laws in all 50 states to see if any of these gun laws reduced or increased the risk of suicide or homicide among children 18 and younger.

Which gun laws have prevented deaths?

Researchers found that laws preventing children’s access to food, safe storage laws, and mandatory waiting periods reduced suicide rates among children and teens.

“We know that kids are getting guns to kill themselves,” Haines said. “It’s a huge problem.”

More laws regulating access to these types of weapons among children and teens could help prevent these deaths.

Firearms are the leading cause of death among children and teenagers.

According to researchers, more than 90% of firearm deaths worldwide occur in the US.

A look at the statistics: Gun violence is a public health crisis, Surgeon General says

Stand-your-ground laws help protect people who use guns for self-defense. Researchers said the law increased the risk of suicide in children and teens. At the same time, laws setting a minimum age for gun ownership did not significantly change suicide rates.

“We’ve found some laws that do work. And because they work, we need to find ways to encourage states that don’t have those laws to adopt them,” Haines said.

Surgeon General calls gun violence a national health crisis

Last month, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis and issued a 39-page advisory on initiatives to prevent firearm deaths. The advisory said the number of firearm-related deaths “reached nearly three-decade highs in 2021.”

More than 48,000 people will die from gun violence in 2022, the Surgeon General said, an increase of 16,000 deaths compared to 2010. At the same time, firearm suicides have increased 20%, including a “staggering increase” in such deaths among young people, the advisory said.

Murthy said gun violence requires a public health approach rather than a polarizing political response.

Gun violence became the leading cause of death among children in 2020, and American adults worry they or a loved one will become a victim, Reuters reported. More than half of American adults said they or a family member had experienced an incident involving a gun, according to a 2023 report from KFF, a health policy research and news organization.

How was the research conducted?

Researchers analyzed data on firearm deaths from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, looking at more than 17,000 child deaths caused by firearms between 2009 and 2020. Of those deaths, 6,700 were suicides and more than 10,200 were homicides.

The data shows that most youth murders and suicides involved the use of a firearm.

In a press release, Dr. Suresh Agarwal, chief of the division of trauma, acute and critical care surgery at Duke University, said: “This is very early research and we should continue to use this type of research to inform better policy.”

Looking ahead, Dr. Haines and researchers at Duke University are working with pediatricians to interview families in Texas who own guns. They hope to develop educational interventions related to safe storage.

Contributions: George Petras