Lack of formal firearm training linked to increased suicide risk in US

A new study from the University of Washington ( UW) shows that only about three in five US firearm owners have received any formal gun training, and the percentage has not changed much in 20 years.

“What’s more surprising,” said Ali Rowhani- Rahbar, an associate professor of epidemiology at the UW School of Public Health who led the study published last week in the journal Injury Prevention, “is how the content of this training has not been adapted to talk about one of the greatest risks associated with owning a firearm or living in a gun- owning household: suicide.”

Firearm- training classes, regardless of their setting – gun shops, hunting clubs or shooting ranges – can promote awareness about warning signs of suicide and encourage gun owners to keep firearms from at- risk individuals.

However, the US does not have a national standard or requirement for firearm- safety training prior to purchasing a gun, putting the responsibility on gun owners and those who live with them to find ways to learn safety strategies.

Other high- income nations, including Canada, Australia and Germany, have national standards that require safety training or an exam before one can legally purchase a gun.

Suicide rates in the US are on the rise, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicides account for two- thirds of all US firearm deaths. The rate is especially high among middle- aged people. Yet only 15 percent of the study participants who owned guns reported having received information about suicide prevention.

“The link between firearm access and suicide is strong and well- documented. Gun training provides a valuable opportunity to include educational messages about suicide prevention,” Rowhani- Rahbar was quoted as saying in a news release.

“There is very little research about the content of formal firearm- training programs, or even about the percentage of US adults who have ever received formal firearm training,” he noted. “Before our study, the most recent estimates of the proportion of adult firearm owners with formal firearm training in the United States came from surveys conducted in 1994.”

Rowhani- Rahbar and UW doctoral student Vivian Lyons used data from a national online survey to generate up- todate estimates about firearm training.

Information from nearly 4,000 people indicated that only 61 percent of all gun owners and 14 percent of nonowners who live with a firearm owner have received formal gun training, percentages largely unchanged since the 1994 surveys.

When asked about the content of firearm training, survey participants commonly said they learned safe gun handling and storage, and accident prevention.

Guns can be found in onethird of US homes. When they are present in the household, researchers have found that the risk of firearm injury, intentional or not, increases for everyone in the household, especially when guns are not locked, unloaded, and stored in a safe place.

“Our findings suggest that we could be doing a much better job with firearm training for all gun owners and non- owners who live with a gun owner,” said Rowhani- Rahbar.