They remain at increased risk for years afterwards. The six-year study, conducted by investigators at the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research program, included 238,292 purchasers of handguns through licensed firearm dealers in California in 1991. The cause of death of people who purchased handguns was compared to that of the adult population of California as a whole through 1996. Suicide was the leading cause of death among people who bought handguns in the first year following gun purchase. The public's attention predominantly has been focused on gun homicides, but in reality, there have been substantially more gun suicides in most years than there have been gun homicides.
People tend to hide gun suicide because it can be a shameful act for the survivors.
The National Vital Statistics Report documented 17,566 suicides by firearm compared with 13,522 homicides in 1997, the last year for which statistics are available. The UC Davis study also highlights a little known fact that women who buy guns are particularly at risk for death from gun violence. We found, in some cases, nearly 40 times as many suicides among women who bought handguns as we expected. Their risk for dying from gun homicide was doubled as well. Of all handgun purchasers who committed suicide by firearm during the six-year study, 25.0 percent of the women and 13.7 percent of the men did so within a month of buying their handguns.