Citation

Price JH, Thompson AJ, Dake JA. J. Community Health 2004; 29(4): 271-283.

Affiliation

Mississippi State University, Department of HPERS, Mississippi State, MS, USA. jprice@utnet.utoledo.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15186014

Abstract

This study examined the relationship of 16 variables with homicide, suicide, and unintentional firearm deaths. This cross-sectional analysis, using adjusted partial correlation coefficients, found that state-level firearm homicide rates significantly varied by the prevalence of firearms and by percent of the population which was African American. Whereas, state-level variations in firearm suicide mortality significantly varied by firearm prevalence, per capita alcohol consumption, percent of the population which was African American, and level of urbanization. None of the variables were significantly (p < or = .05) related to state-level variations in unintentional firearm mortality. Furthermore, state gun laws had only a limited effect on firearm-related homicide deaths. Although the current study cannot determine causation, firearm mortality in its various forms is most commonly related to the prevalence of firearms and the percent of the population that is African American.