A Household Handgun Divestment and Suicide Risk
2021 Standard Research Grant
Amount Awarded: $99,902
Focus Area: Psychosocial Studies
Sonja Swanson, Sc.D.
Erasmus Medical Center (Netherlands)
Inside the Research
Access to firearms increases risk of death by suicide, yet little is known about how voluntary divestment from firearms may reduce suicide risk. Building upon prior work supported by AFSP examining how personal divestment affects handgun owners’ own risk, the goal in this study is to learn more about how divestment may also affect the suicide risk for other household members, beyond gun owners.