ACCESS TO FIREARMS AND THE RISK OF SUICIDE - A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Objective: This study examined the association between access to a fir earm and risk of suicide in a consecutive sample of individuals who ha d made serious suicide attempts. Method: The study used a case control design in which a sample of 197 individuals who died by suicide and 3 02 individuals who made medically serious suicide attempts was contras ted with 1028 randomly selected community control subjects. Results: S uicide attempts by gunshot accounted for 1.3% of all serious suicide a ttempts (with non-fatal outcome) and 13.3% of suicides. However, among those making serious suicide attempts, gunshot had a high rate of fat ality (83.3%). While access to a firearm was associated with increased risks that gunshot would be chosen as the method of suicide attempt ( OR = 107.9; CI = 24.8-469.5), this access was not associated with sign ificant increases in the risk of suicide (OR = 1.4; CI = 0.96-1.99). C onclusions: For this sample, access to a firearm was not associated wi th a significant increase in the risk of suicide, although such access was associated with an increased probability that gunshot would be ch osen as the method of suicide attempt.