Elsevier

Journal of Affective Disorders

Volume 227, February 2018, Pages 530-535
Journal of Affective Disorders

Research paper
Perceptions of firearms and suicide: The role of misinformation in storage practices and openness to means safety measures

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.11.057Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Those who do not believe guns are associated with suicide store guns less safely.

  • Unsafe storage of guns associated with less willingness to use means safety.

  • Gun owners more open to prevent suicide of others than to prevent own suicide.

Abstract

Background

Firearm ownership and unsafe storage increase risk for suicide. Little is known regarding factors that influence storage practices and willingness to engage in means safety.

Methods

Utilizing Amazon's Mechanical Turk program, we recruited an online sample of 300 adults living in the US who own at least one firearm. Firearm storage practices and openness to means safety measures were assessed using items designed for this study. Data were collected and analyzed in 2017.

Results

Firearms stored in non-secure locations and without a locking device were associated with lower beliefs in the relationship between firearm storage and suicide risk. Fearlessness about death moderated the association between current secure versus non-secure storage and beliefs regarding firearm storage and suicide risk, in that storage practices and beliefs were more strongly related at higher levels of fearlessness about death. For both secure and locked storage of a firearm, there was a significant indirect effect of current storage practices on willingness to engage in means safety in the future through current beliefs regarding the relationship between firearm storage and suicide risk. Unsafe storage practices were largely associated with an unwillingness to store firearms more safely or to allow a trusted peer to temporarily store the firearm outside the home in order to prevent their own or someone else's suicide.

Limitations

Self-report and cross-sectional data were used. Results may not generalize to non-firearm owners.

Conclusions

Firearm owners are prone to inaccurate beliefs about the relationship between firearms and suicide. These beliefs may influence both current firearm storage practices and the willingness to engage in means safety.

Introduction

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US (Xu et al., 2016). Firearms account for approximately 50% of suicides in the US and are the most lethal means of suicide (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014, Shenassa et al., 2003, Elnour and Harrison, 2008, Anestis, 2016). Suicide is more common in firearm-owning households (Simon, 2007) and suicide decedents who own firearms and store them in non-secure locations are more likely than other suicide decedents to die using a firearm (Anestis et al., 2017). Additionally, suicide risk is lower when firearms are stored unloaded and in a locked location (Grossman et al., 2007). Access to a firearm does not cause suicidal ideation; rather, firearm ownership may enhance suicide risk by increasing the capability for suicide (Barber and Miller, 2014, Klonsky and May, 2015).

Means safety––efforts that limit access or decrease lethality to means for suicide – has been found to reduce suicide rates (Barber and Miller, 2014, Sarchiapone et al., 2011, Khazem et al., 2016). Means safety strategies are especially effective in contexts wherein the method is popular, widely available, and highly lethal—all characteristics of firearms in the US (Sarchiapone et al., 2011). A common misconception regarding means safety is “means substitution”—the idea that an individual will find another means of suicide if access to their primary means is thwarted. Research has debunked this notion (Diagle, 2005, Yip et al., 2012).

Despite their potential to prevent suicide, means safety measures focused on firearms have not been broadly implemented in the US. Additionally, extant literature provides little information regarding the characteristics of firearm owners that may impede their willingness to partake in such interventions. By addressing this knowledge gap, we could improve our ability to design and implement effective means safety strategies.

One area worth consideration in this regard is the accuracy of the beliefs firearm owners have regarding the relationship between firearms and suicide. Although to our knowledge this possibility has not been directly tested, it seems plausible that firearm owners are prone to beliefs that are contradicted by data with respect to (1) whether owning a firearm is associated with suicide, (2) whether firearm storage is associated with suicide, and (3) whether limiting the availability of a firearm during a suicidal crisis will simply result in an individual finding another way to die by suicide. Furthermore, it is also plausible that individuals who currently store their firearms unsafely would be less willing to engage in means safety measures including safe storage in the future.

Although informative to some extent, main effect models are capable of providing only a limited understanding of the nature of the relationship between firearm beliefs and firearm storage. As such, consideration of contextual factors that influence this relationship and models that explain the relationship are vital. Along these lines, prominent theories of suicide (Klonsky and May, 2015, Joiner, 2005) argue that the capability for suicide is comprised of elevated physiological pain tolerance and fearlessness about death, which are vital factors in transitioning from suicidal thoughts to suicidal behavior. Therefore, it seems plausible that beliefs about firearms and suicide would be more strongly associated with current firearm storage behavior among those less fearful of death (and thus more capable of suicide). In this sense, simply believing that firearms are not related to suicide may not be enough to prompt unsafe storage behavior just as simply having thoughts of suicide is not enough to prompt suicidal behavior – an individual may require elevated fearlessness about death in order to engage in behavior that increases the possibility of dying.

With respect to mechanisms, it may be that inaccurate beliefs influence how firearm owners store their firearms and may also influence the extent to which they would be willing to store firearms more safely or voluntarily and temporarily remove firearms from the home during a suicidal crisis. Indeed, if an individual firmly believes that firearms are unrelated to suicide, resistance to means safety would then be misguided but understandable, as there would be less rationale for that individual to change their current practices. Thus, the association between current firearm storage practices and openness to means safety in the future is likely indirect through current beliefs in the association between firearms and suicide. Specifically, inaccurate beliefs that firearms are unrelated to suicide may explain the association between currently storing firearms unsafely and resistance to engaging in means safety in the future.

In this study, we examined perceptions surrounding firearms and suicide in a sample of American firearm owners and assessed how these views are associated with storage practices and openness to means safety measures. We hypothesized that American firearm owners would generally not believe that ownership or storage of a firearm is related to suicide risk. We further hypothesized that those who currently store their firearm(s) unsafely are less likely to believe that firearm ownership or storage are related to suicide risk. We anticipated that fearlessness about death – a component of the capability for suicide – would moderate the association between current firearm storage practices and firearm owners’ beliefs about the association between firearms and suicide. Specifically, we anticipated that individuals who believe that firearms are unrelated to suicide would be more likely to store their firearms unsafely and that this association would be stronger among those who are more fearless about death. We anticipated that firearm owners would be largely resistant to future engagement in means safety; however, we anticipated that they would be more open to such practices in an effort to prevent the suicide of someone else than in an effort to prevent their own suicide. We further anticipated that those who currently store their firearms unsafely would report being less open to engaging in means safety in the future. We also anticipated that firearm owners would generally believe in means substitution and that this belief would be stronger among those who store their firearm(s) unsafely. Lastly, we anticipated that there would be an indirect effect of current storage practices on willingness to engage in means safety in the future through current beliefs about the association between firearm storage practices and suicide. Results consistent with our hypotheses would indicate firearm owners are prone to inaccurate beliefs about the relationship between firearms and suicide and that such beliefs may play a role in current firearm storage practices and the willingness to engage in means safety in the future.

Section snippets

Participants

A sample of 300 firearm owners (53.0% male; 82.3% White; 92.0% heterosexual; mage = 36.11; age range = 20–69) was recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (mTurk) program. Data were collected and analyzed in 2017. Research has demonstrated that the quality of data from mTurk is consistent with data collected via other means (Shapiro et al., 2013). Participants were adults living in the US who own at least one firearm. We restricted the project to only participants who had completed at least 100

Results

Most firearm owners indicated they believe firearm ownership is either not at all (53.0%) or only slightly related (31.7%) to suicide risk. Similarly, most indicated they believe firearm storage (e.g. non-secure location) is either not at all (51.7%) or only slightly related (26.3%) to suicide risk. In each case, confidence in the belief was highest among those with more extreme beliefs. For instance, 82.4% of those who endorsed that firearm ownership is not at all related to suicide risk and

Discussion

This study investigated perceptions regarding firearms and suicide among American firearm owners and assessed the role that such perceptions play in current firearm storage practices, as well as the willingness to modify such practices in the future. Results generally supported hypotheses.

Most firearm owners believed that firearm ownership and storage are unrelated to suicide risk. Furthermore, confidence in these beliefs was highest among those who took a more extreme stance. Not only does

Acknowledgement

We appreciate the support of our fellow faculty members and university in our research endeavors.

Role of the funding source

This project was not supported by any external funding.

Michael D. Anestis, Ph.D. is the Associate Professor of Psychology and the director of the Suicide and Emotion Dysregulation laboratory at the University of Southern Mississippi.

References (19)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (25)

  • Revisiting evidence of primary prevention of suicide among adult populations: A systematic overview

    2022, Journal of Affective Disorders
    Citation Excerpt :

    In the United States, more than half of suicide deaths between 2001 and 2019 were caused by firearms (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2021). A high proportion of firearm owners are unaware of (or do not believe in) the relationship of suicide risk with firearms availability and unsafe storage (Anestis et al., 2018; Butterworth and Daruwala, 2020). Similar means restriction strategies need more evidence of effectiveness and rigorous evaluation in the general population.

  • An examination of preferred messengers on firearm safety for suicide prevention

    2021, Preventive Medicine
    Citation Excerpt :

    One potential explanation for the lack of broad implementation of means safety may be lack of knowledge regarding the data on firearms and suicide. Indeed, prior research has demonstrated that many firearm owners believe there is little or no relationship between suicide risk and firearm access or storage and that those who endorse such beliefs tend to store their firearms less safely and be less willing to change their storage methods to prevent suicide (Anestis et al., 2018). The inconsistent implementation of means safety may also reflect a lack of effective messaging.

View all citing articles on Scopus

Michael D. Anestis, Ph.D. is the Associate Professor of Psychology and the director of the Suicide and Emotion Dysregulation laboratory at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Sarah Butterworth, B.S., is doctoral students in the clinical psychology program at the University of Southern Mississippi. Research interests for all three authors involve better understanding suicide risk and prevention.

Claire Houtsma, M.A., is doctoral students in the clinical psychology program at the University of Southern Mississippi. Research interests for all three authors involve better understanding suicide risk and prevention.

View full text