Gun purchases during pandemic were by people more likely to be suicidal, study finds
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
More than 2.5 million Americans purchased a gun for the first time during the first four months of 2020, a new study found.
Now, research shows that these buyers during the pandemic are more likely to be suicidal than preexisting gun owners. A survey of 3,500 Americans found that 70% who bought guns during the pandemic reported having suicidal thoughts in their lifetime, compared to 37% of other firearm owners.
An estimated 2 million of those 2.5 million firearms were bought in March alone, when the coronavirus was declared a national emergency and lockdowns commenced across the U.S.
Experts suggest the stresses of possible COVID-19 infection, unemployment and potential domestic issues during the pandemic could have led to the apparent connection between those struggling with their mental health and gun purchases.
The results were published Nov. 16 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
“People who were motivated to purchase firearms during COVID-19 might have been driven by anxiety that leaves them vulnerable to suicidal ideation,” Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health, said in a news release.
“While this does not guarantee an increase in suicide rates, it represents an unusually large surge in risk made more troubling by the fact that firearms purchased during COVID-19 may remain in homes beyond the pandemic,” Anestis said.
Statistics show that suicide is three times more likely in homes with guns. This risk increases by 100-fold immediately following the purchase of a handgun, the researchers said.
More than 24,000 people died by firearm suicide in 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than suicides by suffocation (nearly 14,000) and poisoning (about 6,000) combined — and just over half of all suicides that year.
Researchers in the most recent study from Rutgers University surveyed 3,500 Americans over 18 years old about their reasons for buying a gun at the beginning of the pandemic, how they store their gun and whether they have ever experienced thoughts of suicide.
About one-third of respondents were already firearm owners. Of those who bought a gun during the pandemic, 70% experienced suicidal thoughts throughout their lives, 56% had experienced these thoughts during the previous year and 25% experienced them in the last month prior to taking the survey.
People who did not buy guns in the first four months of the year were 56%, 24% and 12% — respectively — as likely to have suicidal thoughts in those time periods, according to the study. The results show a marked difference in reported suicidal thoughts among those who didn’t buy a gun during the pandemic compared to those who did.
That connection could have concerning implications moving forward, even after the coronavirus pandemic subsides, researchers say.
“It is possible that a higher-risk group is driving the current firearm purchasing surge, introducing long-term suicide risk into the homes of individuals who otherwise may not have acquired firearms during a time of extended social isolation, economic uncertainty and general upheaval,” Anestis said.
What’s more, people who bought a gun during the pandemic were also more likely to store their firearms in unsafe ways, “such as switching between unloading their firearms and loading them before storage; using locking devices and then removing them; or switching between storing a firearm outside and inside the home,” the researchers said.
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Gun purchases during pandemic were by people more likely to be suicidal, study finds."
