Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
University of California Los Angeles School of Nursing, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2020 Apr 7;20(1):334. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-08462-6.
Older adults complete suicide at a disproportionately higher rate compared to the general population, with firearms the most common means of suicide. State gun laws may be a policy remedy. Less is known about Gun Violence Restricting Order (GVRO) laws, which allow for removal of firearms from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others, and their effects on suicide rates among older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of state firearm laws with the incidence of firearm, non-firearm-related, and total suicide among older adults, with a focus on GVRO laws.
This is a longitudinal study of US states using data from 2012 to 2016. The outcome variables were firearm, non-firearm and total suicide rates among older adults. Predictor variables were [1] total number of gun laws to assess for impact of overall firearm legislation at the state level, and [2] GVRO laws.
The total number of firearm laws, as well as GVRO laws, were negatively associated with firearm-related suicide rate among older adults ages 55-64 and > 65 years-old (p < 0.001). There was a small but significant positive association of total number of firearm laws to non-firearm-related suicide rates and a negative association with total suicide rate. GVRO laws were not significantly associated with non-firearm-related suicide and were negatively associated with total suicide rate.
Stricter firearm legislation, as well as GVRO laws, are protective against firearm-relate suicides among older adults.
与一般人群相比，老年人自杀的比例不成比例地更高，其中枪支是最常见的自杀方式。州枪支法律可能是一种政策补救措施。关于枪支暴力限制令（GVRO）法律的了解较少，该法律允许从被认为对自己或他人构成危险的人手中移除枪支，以及这些法律对老年人自杀率的影响。本研究的目的是检查州枪支法律与老年人中枪支、非枪支相关和总自杀率的关联，重点是 GVRO 法律。
这是一项对美国各州进行的纵向研究，使用了 2012 年至 2016 年的数据。因变量是老年人中的枪支、非枪支和总自杀率。预测变量是[1]枪支法律总数，以评估州一级总体枪支立法的影响，以及[2]GVRO 法律。
枪支法律总数以及 GVRO 法律与 55-64 岁和>65 岁老年人的枪支相关自杀率呈负相关（p<0.001）。枪支法律总数与非枪支相关自杀率呈小但显著的正相关，与总自杀率呈负相关。GVRO 法律与非枪支相关自杀无关，与总自杀率呈负相关。
更严格的枪支立法以及 GVRO 法律可预防老年人枪支相关自杀。
