Wiener klinische Wochenschrift
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Aug 2006
Comparative StudySuicide by shooting is correlated to rate of gun licenses in Austrian counties.
Shooting as method of suicide has increased considerably in Austria over recent decades and represented 23.5% of all suicides among men during the period 1990-2000. It is thought that the availability of guns could lead to their use in acts of suicide, and therefore we investigated the numbers of gun licenses (which constitutes ownership of guns and permission to carry a gun) in the nine Austrian counties and their correlation with suicides by shooting and other methods. ⋯ As shooting as a method of suicide has increased in Austria in recent decades, and is a highly lethal method, the finding that the shooting suicide rate is related to the extent of gun ownership deserves attention, especially as there is evidence that restriction of gun ownership is an important factor in suicide prevention.