United States: A new study shows that some gun laws can help stop kids and teens from committing suicide but don’t seem to lower the chance of them being killed, however the situation and circumstances are always vulnerable.
The study found that states with rules for safely storing guns and waiting periods before buying a gun had fewer suicides among children and teenagers. However, these same laws did not seem to reduce the risk of kids being killed with a gun.
Even laws that try to keep guns away from people who might harm themselves or others didn’t make a difference in preventing murders.
Surprising Findings from the Study
As reported in U.S. News, “It is surprising to me that no laws appear to be impacting the rates of homicide in children, not even safe access,” said lead researcher Dr. Krista Haines who is an assistant professor of surgery and population of health sciences at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. “It’s sad and shocking.”
Study Details and Findings
For the study the researchers concluded the data on more than 17,000 child firearm deaths that have been occurred between 2009 and 2020 which actually includes more than 6,7000 suicides and more than 10,200 murders.
They compared almost 36 different state-level firearm laws to see if any appeared to reduce or increase the risk of suicide or homicide for the Children.
Haines said in the news release that suggests that we do actually have some laws that work.
Call for More Effective Laws
“But there are very few of these laws, and they only appear to work for suicide, not for homicide,” she continued. “Our study clearly points to a need for more laws and controlled access to these guns, especially given the high rates of death among children in the United States.”
And amazingly, “stand your ground” laws that protect people who use the guns in the self defense appeared to increase children and teens ‘risk of suicide that what the researchers found.
Laws setting the minimum age for the purchase of the firearms did not significantly reduce the suicide death rates.
U.S. Accounts for Most Child Firearm Deaths Worldwide
And here the United States is accountable for almost more than 90 percent of the child firearm deaths worldwide and more studies are needed to know the risk for the kids, they argue.
This is a very early study and we need to continue to use this kind of the research to advance better policies,” senior researcher Dr. Suresh Agarwal who is the chief of the trauma and critical care surgery at the Duke University.
