Citation

Allison S, Bastiampillai T, Sharfstein SS. Lancet Psychiatry 2017; 4(5): 357.

Affiliation

South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Mind and Brain, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Shepherd Pratt Health System, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S2215-0366(17)30137-2

PMID

28456293

Abstract

Suicide prevention presents a crucial policy challenge for the Trump administration. From 1999 to 2014, the US suicide rate increased by 24%, rising above the global average.1 Access to lethal means appears to be a major factor. US citizens own the most firearms per capita in the world, and the rate of firearm-related suicide is 8-times higher than average in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.2 Half of US suicides are firearm-related (6·3 per 100 000 people),2 which is far higher than comparable OECD countries with strict national firearm control laws, such as the UK (0·2 per 100 000 population) and Australia (0·8 per 100 000 people).2

It is notable, however, that the USA has a low rate of non-firearm related suicide, similar to the UK (6·1 vs 6·6 per 100 000 people), and considerably less than Australia (10·2 per 100 000 people).2 These comparisons suggest that the USA has much to gain by adopting firearm control measures from other countries. Such measures could lower the US suicide rate below the global average, and they should be the top priority for suicide prevention in the USA.

Instead of looking for politically feasible ways to reduce access to firearms, we are concerned that the Trump administration will further weaken firearm controls, and that pro-firearm lobbyists might influence these national policy decisions. During his campaign for the presidency, Donald Trump was a champion of the Second Amendment right for US citizens to own and carry firearms...

Language: en