Smart Guns Can Prevent Thousands of Suicides by Third Party Firearms

Ralph Fascitelli
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read

According to the American Federation for Suicide Prevention, there are approximately 42,000 suicide fatalities in the US annually at least half involving firearms. Indeed, the 21,000 firearm suicides represent almost two-thirds of the 33,000 annual gun deaths in the US. When someone attempts suicide with a firearm, it ends in a fatality in over 90% of the cases, versus less than 10% for all other methods combined.

Yet firearm suicides receive relatively little attention for a couple of reasons. In my almost twenty year experience on the gun safety issue, it’s become my opinion that the various local and national suicide prevention groups do not like to overlap their issue with firearms for fear of alienating powerful gun rights groups including the NRA, and thereby complicate their legislative agendas.

Research on firearm suicide also has been very limited because the NRA has effectively blocked federal gun research by the CDC and others. For instance there is only anecdotal data on the number of firearm suicides with someone else’s gun — so called “third party suicides”. This is critically important information because research suggests that many third-party gun suicides are preventable, if we can just deter ready access to a gun. Specifically, research shows that the intent to kill oneself often fades over just a few hours and that 90% of those intent on suicide who survive are likely to live a long life commensurate with the lifespan of the general population.

However, working with the data we do have, it is possible to calculate the likely number of third party suicides with a firearm — and it appears that this number is more than 40% of the 21,000 annual gun suicides, i.e., at least 9,000 a year. The calculation is as follows:

  • Recent CDC data on gun suicides in general indicates that 75% (about 16,000) occurred at home. Since there are guns in about ⅓ of all US homes, this would suggest that just over 5,000 of these suicides occur in homes with guns. However, Dr. David Hemenway, in his book Private Guns, Public Health, notes that when there is a gun in the home there is a fivefold greater chance of a completed suicide. Factoring in this greater risk factor for gun-owning homes, the number of gun suicides in homes with guns increases to 11,430. This means that the balance, or 4,570 gun suicides occur in homes without a gun, i.e., are most likely to be third party suicides.
  • In addition, a survey by the Pew Research Center shows that one third of adult respondents in gun owning households state they do not personally own the gun. So if we start with the 11,430 gun suicides that occur in gun — owning households, as many as one third of these gun suicides, or 3,810 are likely to be third party suicides.
  • Lastly, research by the Brady Center to Reduce Gun Violence shows that in 2013, 82% of the 876 suicides with a firearm for youth aged 10–19 were the result of easy access to a gun in the home. This would be 718 additional third party suicides.

In total, then, it is likely that the number of third party gun suicides could be as high as 9,098 (4,570 + 3810 + 718) every year. In addition, it is likely that a percentage of the 5,000 gun suicides that occur outside the home are also third party suicides. However, this number is difficult if not impossible to estimate and so it is not included in this analysis.

Smart guns are firearms that can be fired only by the authorized user. During a time when chances of Federal gun legislation are virtually nil, smart guns represent perhaps the most promising path to reduce gun violence. Their biggest immediate life-saving impact may be in the area of third party gun suicides, since a smart gun cannot be fired by anyone other than its owner. This means that someone with suicidal ideation cannot kill him/herself with someone else’s gun and first would have to go to a dealer to buy a gun, a process that could take days and certainly time enough to ensure that the dark emotions that drive suicidal intent would dissipate and pass.

Males are far more likely to commit suicide with a firearm than are females, especially military veterans who suffer from PTSD, as well as those suffering from depression. Regardless of one’s beliefs on gun rights, from a public health standpoint it’s definitely a good idea to keep firearms away from these high risk groups. Smart guns could allow other family members to keep their firearms and still protect those at high risk from suicide.

Recent polls including one of almost 4,000 adults by Johns Hopkins Public Health shows that over 40% of gun owners have some level of interest in purchasing a smart gun. Their adoption in a free market would be further stimulated if those involved on the front lines of suicide prevention would become more proactive in acknowledging the links between suicides and firearms, as well as the life-saving role that smart guns could play for thousands of potential suicide victims each and every year.

By Ralph Fascitelli, Board President of Washington Ceasefire with Contributions by Gareth Glaser

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