摘要：We investigated changes in the proportion of firearm suicides in Western countries since the 1980s and the relation of these changes to the change in the proportion of households owning firearms. Several countries had an obvious decline in firearm suicides: Norway, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Multilevel modeling of longitudinal data confirmed the effect of the proportion of households owning firearms. Legislation and regulatory measures reducing the availability of firearms in private households can distinctly strengthen the prevention of firearm suicides. Our analysis focused on international data on firearm suicides over different periods, which enabled a longitudinal perspective. To our knowledge, this is the first analysis to have such a focus. Proportions of firearm suicides in Western countries since the 1980s were compared with the proportions of households owning firearms within those countries, a well-known predictor of firearm suicide 1 and, moreover, homicide, 2 particularly femicide. 3 , 4 Specifically, we analyzed whether changes in the proportions of households owning firearms were associated with changes in legislation and regulatory measures and whether changes in firearm legislation contributed to the prevention of firearm suicides.
