“Our federal gun regulations pertaining to mental illness prohibit lots of people from accessing firearms who are not violent, and never will be,” Swanson said.
“At the same time, they fail to identify some people who will be violent or suicidal. With this data, we can improve criteria for restrictions that might actually reduce gun violence, but also carefully balance risk and rights.”
Of the 50 people {out of 254} who used a gun to kill themselves, 72 percent were legally eligible to buy guns at the time of their deaths. The other 28 percent were not supposed to have or buy a gun, but used one to take their own lives.
The data showed slightly higher than average violent crime arrest rates among adults in the study, but found their use of guns in those crimes (13 percent) was lower than in a comparable population from the same community (24 percent).
Of the arrests for violent gun-related crimes observed in the study, two-thirds involved adults who were already prohibited from accessing a gun, pointing to problems with background checks and enforcement. The study’s findings suggest some suicides and violent crimes with guns could be prevented by a law many states have already enacted: blocking the sale of new guns by federally licensed dealers to people who have been involuntarily held during a mental health crisis, but were not committed against their will."
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“We live in a country where private gun ownership is cherished, constitutionally protected, and very prevalent. Gun violence is a challenging problem in the U.S., and one that requires a lot of careful thinking and research to bring evidence to bear for these policies.”
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