Each year, firearms injuries are costing the New Zealand hospital system an average of $1.48 million and costing the country a further $321 million in years of life lost, a new study led by the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka has found.
The researchers investigated firearms-related hospitalisations and deaths from assaults, accidents and suicide between the years 2000 and 2018. The total cost of hospital care over the 19 years was $28.2 million. Using the Years of Life Lost (YLL) measure, the financial costs of the deaths were far higher than injury costs, at an estimated $321 million a year.
Dr Lucy Telfar-Barnard
The figures exclude the 2019 mass shootings at two Christchurch mosques which resulted in the deaths of 51 people.
The research findings have been published in the international journal, the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Lead researcher Dr Lucy Telfar-Barnard, from the Faculty of Medicine's Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, says more than 1,000 people died and 2,115 people were hospitalised as a result of firearms incidents between 2000 and 2018. More than 80 per cent of those hospitalised needed surgery, with most of the injuries from accidents.
Of the deaths, most were from suicide (819 deaths) followed by assaults (147 deaths) and accidental deaths (48). Most of those who died were men, with mortality rates highest in those of European ethnicity, followed by Māori.
Hospitalisation rates were highest in rural settlements and lowest in small urban areas.
Māori had a three-fold higher risk than Europeans of being victims of firearms homicides. Additionally, Māori and Pacific peoples had a two to three fold higher risk than Europeans of being hospitalised as a result of assault with a firearm.
Dr Telfar-Barnard says the study puts into stark relief the human and financial costs of gun ownership, and demonstrates the importance of having strong firearms regulations in place.
"Firearms are placing an extensive health burden on the country, not only in life years lost, but also in years of life affected by disability."
Firearm ownership in New Zealand is regulated by the Arms Act, which has been amended several times, with major changes made after the mass shootings in Aramoana in 1990 which left 13 people dead, and in Christchurch in 2019. In 1992, the government introduced a raft of changes, including the requirement for character checks for those applying for firearms licences. After the Christchurch mosque attacks, military-style semi-automatic firearms were banned, and a firearms registry set up.
Dr Telfar-Barnard says previous research has found policies which restrict firearm ownership are associated with a reduction in firearms-related homicides and suicides.
"For instance, the 1992 amendment to the Arms Act, which required background checks for those applying for firearms licences, has been associated with a significant reduction in firearm-related suicides."
It is estimated that there were 1.2 million firearms in Aotearoa in 2018, owned by about 250,000 licence holders. Among them were more than 65,000 military-style semi-automatic firearms, pistols and restricted weapons, held by 10,000 licensed owners.
Dr Telfar-Barnard says the high cost of firearms injuries underlines the importance of maintaining and strengthening current firearms restrictions and of improving education on firearm safety.
"The direct and indirect costs to the health system resulting from firearms injuries and death show how important it is to have both a licensing regime and a firearms register."
The Government is currently working on a rewrite of the Arms Act, part of the Coalition Agreement between the National Party and the ACT Party to reform firearms regulations.
The research paper, 'Firearm-Related Hospitalization and Death in Aotearoa New Zealand 2000-2023: a Cohort Study' is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
