Guns in the Home

The National Safety Council has convinced BrooklynDodger to pay more attention to traumatic injury outside of work. So the Dodger is now going to cover cars and guns, which are pretty prominent in this picture. It would take quite an effort to find something more politically controversial than OSHA, but gun control certainly fills the bill.

CDC investigators concluded that persons with guns in the home were at about twice the greater risk of dying from a homicide in the home. than those without guns in the home. The risk of dying of a firearm homicide at home was 16 fold for persons 35 and older with a firearm in the home. The risk of dying from a suicide in the home was 10 times greater for males in homes with guns than for males without guns in the home. 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. Homicide victims were mostly male, less than 35 years of age, and of racial or ethnic minority status. Suicide victims were predominately male, older, and non-Hispanic White.

BrooklynDodger has the impression that the major policy argument by opponents of gun control is greater safety through the possibility of defense of the home against intruders. These data indicate the greatest risk is the enemy already within the home.

BrooklynDodger notes that these data are based on a sample from a 1993 survey, and included about 1500 cases. These data appear to have been sitting around CDC for a while, during which time major legislative debates have taken place on these issues [and presidential elections won and lost.] The Dodger will look for more recent data.

[BrooklynDodger thinks someone could make a living revising abstracts of journal
articles to convey more information. [Actually, isn't that what editors are supposed to do?] For example, the abstract says that "persons" having a gun a home “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.” With no more space they could have conveyed the information from the text: “for persons living with others at the time of death, there was a significant association between the presence of a firearm in the home and risk of a firearm homicide among those aged 35 years or older (adjusted odds ratio = 16.4, 95 percent confidence interval: 5.9, 45.3).” Frankly, we could dispense with “significant association” and say risk was higher [or lower, if the finding were “significant negative association.”]

Abstracts travel the world like a computer virus spread by medline. The full text remains on the journal pay site.


American Journal of Epidemiology 2004 160(10):929-936

Guns in the Home and Risk of a Violent Death in the Home: Findings from a National Study

Linda L. Dahlberg1 , Robin M. Ikeda2 and Marcie-jo Kresnow3

1 Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA. 2 Epidemiology Program Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA. 3 Office of Statistics and Programming, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.

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.
Key Words: firearms; homicide; suicide; violence; wounds and injuries