Duke University School of Medicine – Public Domain
July 31, 2024
By John Richardson
Gun control laws have no impact on homicide rates. Those in the gun rights community have always known that. Now, a recent study led by researchers at the Duke University School of Medicine has substantiated it. The study looked at suicide and homicide rates involving children under the age of 18 for the period of 2009 through 2020. Using mortality data from the CDC and a database of state-level firearms laws maintained by the Rand Corporation, they examined the impact of 36 different gun control laws. These laws included regulations for background checks, mandatory waiting periods, "stand your ground" laws, safe storage provisions, and so-called Red Flag laws. During this 12-year study period, they found 6,735 suicides and 10,278 homicides reported that involved a firearm. The authors stated that they examined “suicide deaths by all firearms, including intentional self-harm by handguns only, intentional self-harm by rifles, shotguns, or large firearms only, and intentional self-harm by other or unspecified firearms, as well as homicide deaths for the same firearm types in each state.”
They concluded that child access prevention and/or negligent storage laws showed a relationship with suicide rates. However, when one examines their reported statistics, the difference between the states with and without these types of laws is marginal. They reported a standard deviation of .25 which indicates low variability. The study also found no significant reductions in suicide death rates in states with laws setting a minimum age for possession or purchase of firearms. The study went on to conclude that they could not find any “notable distinctions between states with and without the identified laws” when it came to deaths by homicide. The lead author of the study is Krista Haines, D.O . who is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Duke University School of Medicine. In a news release on the study put out by Duke Health, she says, “It was surprising to me that no laws appear to be impacting the rates of homicide in children, not even safe access. It’s sad and shocking.” Nonetheless, she goes on to say, “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.” The study was published in the July 11, 2024 issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
About the Author John Richardson is a certified financial planner (ret.) and blogger who has written about gun rights and Second Amendment issues since 2010 at No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money. His blogging earned him the Second Amendment Foundation’s Ray Carter Blogger of the Year Award in 2017. He is an NRA Certified Basic Pistol Instructor and has held a Curios and Relics FFL for over 20 years.
