When Switzerland cut the size of its armed forces in half between 2003 and 2004, suicide by firearm rates declined significantly for men 18-43.
My study also shows a strong correlation between mass shooting casualties and overall death by firearms rates.
These studies have evaluated variation across states, census divisions, and cities, as well as over time, and have found overall suicide rates and firearm suicide rates are positively associated with firearm ownership prevalence.
Howard cited a study by Andrew Leigh of Australian National University and Christine Neill of Wilfrid Laurier University finding that the firearm homicide rate fell by 59percentt, and the firearm suicide rate fell by 65percentt, in the decade after the law was introduced, without a parallel increase in non-firearm homicides and suicides.
Since then, the firearm homicide rate has fallen by 59percentt and the firearm suicide rate by 65percentt, without a parallel increase in non-firearm homicides and suicides.
The U.S. firearm homicide rate is 20 times higher than the combined rates of 22 countries that are our peers in wealth and population.
At that time Australia's firearm mortality rate per population was 2.6/100,000 – about one-quarter the US rate (pdf), according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the US Center for Disease Control.
From 1979 to 1996, the firearm death rate declined, on average, 3% per year, while from 1997 to 2013, the death rate declined at an average of 4.9% per year.
The Journal of Public Health Policy notes that the firearm suicide rate dropped by half in Australia over the next seven years, and the firearm homicide rate was almost halved.
On opposite ends of the spectrum, Louisiana, a shall-issue state, had a firearm homicide rate of 9.96 per 100,000 residents in 2015; Hawaii, a may-issue state, had a firearm homicide rate of 0.75 per 100,000 residents in 2015.
