Well, the first paragraph is basically false, since the illegally-funded study purported to study three such laws and found two of them -- possession, acquisition -- ineffective. The one they tested dealt with CAP laws, aimed at preventing accidents among younger children and credited the laws with reduced suicides among persons covered and not covered by the CAP laws. It is interesting that Webster, following in the tradition of Kellermann, specifically noted as an alternative means of suicide the one least effective -- at least partly because it's used more as a gesture than a sincere attempt -- pills, rather than something closer to the effectiveness of firearms, like drowning and hanging. PHB
Laws Limiting Gun Access Cut Teen Suicides By Ed Edelson HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDayNews) -- Laws designed to keep guns away from young people reduce the risk that teenagers will kill themselves, a study finds. In states with so-called child access prevention (CAP) laws, the suicide rate for youths aged 14 to 17 was 8.3 percent lower than in states without such laws, say researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The report appears in the Aug. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in the 10-to-19 age group, and as recently as 1994 seven of every 10 teen suicides involved firearms, the report noted. The decreased suicide rate in states with CAP laws was entirely due to a reduction in firearm deaths, the researchers said. That is because a gun "is about the most lethal form of suicide," and "a large proportion of teen suicides are due to a kind of fleeting emotion," said study co-author Daniel W. Webster, co-director of the Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. If a gun is not available, a teenager in agony because of a failed exam or a breakup with a sweetheart might seek an alternative method of suicide, but "pills very rarely are successful," Webster said. Eighteen states have CAP laws, which generally make it a crime to store firearms in a way that make them accessible to young people, often requiring that the guns be locked up. Such laws are among the less controversial issues in the field of gun control, Webster said. "The vast majority of people support them, and the current administration and the current Attorney General, John Ashcroft, are funding a national campaign to encourage the safe storage of firearms," Webster said. In addition, "even in states with a large population of gun owners and strong gun groups, you still see these laws passed," he said. States with CAP laws include Virginia, Nevada and Texas, Webster said, adding, "It's really all over the map." The first CAP law was enacted in Florida in 1989. Since then, the laws have prevented a total of 333 suicides among teenagers, the researchers estimated. "In 2001 alone, we estimate that there were 35 fewer suicides among this group in the 18 states with CAP laws than would have been expected without the laws," they said. The researchers also studied the effect of two other youth-focused gun laws, setting a minimum age for purchase or possession of a firearm. They found no association between such laws and the incidence of teen suicide. "This finding should not be particularly surprising, since other research indicates that most youth firearm suicides involve guns already owned by the victims' parents," said a statement by study co-author Jon Vernick, co-director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Hopkins. --------------------------------------- http://www.jhsph.edu/gunpolicy/key_research_fac.html UNINTENTIONAL AND UNDETERMINED FIREARM RELATED DEATHS: A PREVENTABLE DEATH ANALYSIS FOR THREE SAFETY DEVICES Vernick JS, O'Brien M, Hepburn LM, Johnson SB, Webster DW, Hargarten SW Injury Prevention 2003;9: 307-11. This epidemiologic study analyzes the effect of using three safety devices (personalization, loaded chamber indicators or LCIs, and magazine safeties) on the preventability of gun deaths that are unintentional or undetermined intent. The study found that 44% of the deaths analyzed could have been prevented by at least one of the safety devices. Preventability varied by safety device - the use of personalization was associated with the highest preventability (37%), followed by LCIs (20%) and magazine safeties (4%). Had all these guns been equipped with all three safety devices, more than 400 lives could have been saved in 2000. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
