A new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health researcher has found that states with higher estimated rates of gun ownership experience a higher incidence of non-stranger firearms homicides ā disputing the claim that gun ownership deters violent crime, its authors say.
The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found no significant relationship between levels of gun ownership and rates of stranger-on-stranger homicide. But it did find that higher levels of gun ownership were associated with increases in non-stranger homicide rates, including those involving guns.
The study, led by Dr. Michael Siegel, professor of community health sciences at the BU School of Public Health, is the first to look at the association between gun ownership and rates of stranger vs. non-stranger homicides. Last year, Siegel and colleagues reported that U.S. states with higher estimated rates of gun ownership had higher overall numbers of firearms-related homicides.
The new study found that, for each one-percentage point increase in state-level gun ownership, the state's non-stranger homicide rate increased by 0.9 percent, with firearm homicides increasing by 1.4 percent.
Siegel said the aim of the new study was to examine the links between increased gun ownership and the two kinds of homicides, in order to inform public policy regarding deterrents to firearm violence.
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