General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGuns in the Home and Risk of a Violent Death in the Home: Findings from a National Study
Data from a US mortality follow-back survey were analyzed to determine whether having a firearm in the home increases the risk of a violent death in the home and whether risk varies by storage practice, type of gun, or number of guns in the home. Those persons with guns in the home were at greater risk than those without guns in the home of dying from a homicide in the home (adjusted odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 3.4).
They were also at greater risk of dying from a firearm homicide, but risk varied by age and whether the person was living with others at the time of death. The risk of dying from a suicide in the home was greater for males in homes with guns than for males without guns in the home (adjusted odds ratio = 10.4, 95% confidence interval: 5.8, 18.9).
Persons with guns in the home were also more likely to have died from suicide committed with a firearm than from one committed by using a different method (adjusted odds ratio = 31.1, 95% confidence interval: 19.5, 49.6). Results show that regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home.
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/160/10/929.full

Waldorf
(654 posts)suicide, and how much is the actual increase. Is it 0.1% chance of suicide without firearm and 0.4% chance of suicide with one?
Waldorf
(654 posts)Shows 12.6 suicides (all suicides) per 100,000 people. Unless I've screwed up my math (quite possible) that translates to 0.0126%.
That is why I want to see actual numbers, not this ratio stuff.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)WTF?
Snobblevitch
(1,958 posts)I wonder about who the people are in these homes. Are they criminals and/or do they associate with criminals? Do they store their guns and ammunition lawfully and safely?
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Drug use was asked about, but not controlled for, nor was it determined whether or not the gun used to kill the person was even their own gun.
So a drug dealer who has a gun and gets shot by someone else is just as valid to this 'study' as a troubled senior who takes his own life with his gun.
It's the Gunnium theory of public health- that guns stick to doorknobs like germs, and attract each other like magnets.
Snobblevitch
(1,958 posts)That is a term in which I have no experience. Would you please enlighten me?
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Public health researchers study gun violence like they would a communicable disease. As if firearms were made of a toxic substance, Gunnium, that pollutes an environment and gets stuck on door knobs and toilet seats.
That they will equate a drug dealer being killed by another person's gun with a suicidal person who kills themselves with their own gun only because both had a firearm in the home-- is inconceivable. But damned if they don't total them up that way.
Oh, you have to dig to find it, but check for what they control for when they do the multivariate analysis. More importantly, see what they DO NOT control for.
Photographer
(1,142 posts)You see, they are all good and proper gun owners who would never use a gun improperly or become a victim because they know all about guns.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)until they get affected.
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)is the inappropriate conclusions people are trying to draw from it.
The study only applies to people who have had a killing in their house.
Most homes with guns do not have any killings in them.
Most homes without guns do not have any killings in them.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)