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Surprising fact: Half of gun deaths are suicides
MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
Issue date: 7/1/08 Section: NATIONAL
More than 90 percent of suicide attempts using guns are successful, while the success rate for jumping from high places was 34 percent. The success rate for drug overdose was 2 percent, the brief said, citing studies.
"Other methods are not as lethal," said Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore.
The high court's majority opinion made no mention of suicide. But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer used the word 14 times in voicing concern about the impact of striking down the handgun ban.
"If a resident has a handgun in the home that he can use for self-defense, then he has a handgun in the home that he can use to commit suicide or engage in acts of domestic violence," Breyer wrote.
Researchers in other fields have raised questions about the public-health findings on guns.
Gary Kleck, a researcher at Florida State University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, estimates there are more than 1 million incidents each year in which firearms are used to prevent an actual or threatened criminal attack.
Public-health experts have said the telephone survey methodology Kleck used likely resulted in an overestimate.
Both sides agree there has been a significant decline in the last decade in public-health research into gun violence.
The CDC traditionally was a primary funder of research on guns and gun-related injuries, allocating more than $2.1 million a year to such projects in the mid-1990s.
But the agency cut back research on the subject after Congress in 1996 ordered that none of the CDC's appropriations be used to promote gun control.
Vernick said the Supreme Court decision underscores the need for further study into what will happen to suicide and homicide rates in the district when the handgun ban is lifted.
Today, the CDC budgets less than $900,000 for firearm-related projects, and most of it is spent to track statistics. The agency no longer funds gun-related policy analysis.
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On the Net:
CDC gun injury statistics: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
"Other methods are not as lethal," said Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore.
The high court's majority opinion made no mention of suicide. But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer used the word 14 times in voicing concern about the impact of striking down the handgun ban.
"If a resident has a handgun in the home that he can use for self-defense, then he has a handgun in the home that he can use to commit suicide or engage in acts of domestic violence," Breyer wrote.
Researchers in other fields have raised questions about the public-health findings on guns.
Gary Kleck, a researcher at Florida State University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, estimates there are more than 1 million incidents each year in which firearms are used to prevent an actual or threatened criminal attack.
Public-health experts have said the telephone survey methodology Kleck used likely resulted in an overestimate.
Both sides agree there has been a significant decline in the last decade in public-health research into gun violence.
The CDC traditionally was a primary funder of research on guns and gun-related injuries, allocating more than $2.1 million a year to such projects in the mid-1990s.
But the agency cut back research on the subject after Congress in 1996 ordered that none of the CDC's appropriations be used to promote gun control.
Vernick said the Supreme Court decision underscores the need for further study into what will happen to suicide and homicide rates in the district when the handgun ban is lifted.
Today, the CDC budgets less than $900,000 for firearm-related projects, and most of it is spent to track statistics. The agency no longer funds gun-related policy analysis.
___
On the Net:
CDC gun injury statistics: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
Jonny Carroll
posted 7/01/08 @ 9:23 AM CST
The thing I don't like about this article and just the general public's view is that it sound like guns are the cause of suicide and violence. No, guns are just the weapon used. (Continued…)
Jonny Carroll
posted 7/03/08 @ 4:32 PM CST
I don't really think doctors are more dangerous, they just are statistically. Just an example of how statistics, while 'true' don't always reflect truth. (Continued…)
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