State Firearm Laws and Rates of Assault-Related Firearm Death.

BACKGROUND: Studying firearm-related mortalities is important to reduce preventable firearm deaths in the U.S. This study aims to determine the relationship between firearm laws and assault deaths with firearms. STUDY DESIGN: This ecological study used public data from the CDC Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research on decedents age 18 years or older who died from assaults with firearms between 2009-2018 in all 50 states and D.C. The outcomes were the rate of mortalities per 100,000 persons from assault deaths by firearm used. Exposures of interest included the presence of seven state firearm laws extracted from the RAND State Firearm Law Database. Welch's t-tests were performed to compare mean mortality rates in states with each firearm law to states without each law. RESULTS: There were 114,945 deaths from assault with firearms from 2009-2018. States with "stand your ground" laws had higher assault mortality rates from all firearms and from other/unspecified firearms than states without "stand your ground" laws (p=0.026; p=0.023). States with background checks for private sales of handguns and long guns had lower assault mortality rates from handguns and rifles, shotguns, and large firearms, respectively, than states without either law (p=0.019; p=0.030). CONCLUSIONS: "Stand your ground" laws are correlated with higher rates of gun-related assault deaths, while background checks on private sales are correlated with lower rates. Future studies should elucidate the specific pathways by which state laws reduce, or fail to reduce, firearm-related assault deaths.

Duke Scholars

Author Vijay Krishnamoorthy Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine

Author Krista Lynn Haines Trauma, Acute, and Critical Care Surgery

Author Joseph Steven Fernandez-Moure Trauma, Acute, and Critical Care Surgery

Author Suresh Kumar Agarwal Jr. Trauma, Acute, and Critical Care Surgery