Knowing someone who died by firearm suicide is associated with greater recognition of suicide risk, but may not lead to safer storage practices, according to a Rutgers study published in Psychiatry Research.
Previous research has linked firearms in the home to increased suicide risk, with additional risk when firearms are stored unsecured. Yet relatively little is known about whether personally knowing someone who died by firearm suicide is associated with recognizing that risk or practicing secure storage.
Researchers analyzed survey responses from 7,810 U.S. adults. Participants were asked about whether they knew someone who died by firearm suicide, whether firearms were typically kept in or around their home, their beliefs about suicide risk and whether any household firearm was typically stored both unlocked and loaded.
More than one in four participants, 27.8%, reported personally knowing someone who died by firearm suicide. Firearm access at home was associated with greater odds of reporting such a loss.
Among firearm owners, knowing someone who died by firearm suicide was associated with stronger beliefs that having a firearm at home increases suicide risk. It was also associated with storing at least one firearm both unlocked and loaded.
"Personal experience with firearm suicide appears to increase awareness of the risk, but awareness does not automatically lead to more secure firearm storage," said Allison E. Bond, lead author of the study and an assistant professor at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health . "That disconnect is important for suicide prevention. We need to move beyond simply telling people that firearms can increase suicide risk and find ways to make secure storage feel like a practical part of protecting their families and homes."
The researchers suggest some firearm owners may recognize suicide risk in general while viewing themselves or their families as unlikely to experience it. Concerns about outside threats, such as a home invasion, may also influence storage decisions. The study didn't directly test these explanations.
The researchers said the survey captured experiences, beliefs and storage practices at one point in time. It can't establish cause and effect or determine whether a firearm suicide loss preceded participants' storage choices, they added.
