Firearm Law Combinations Linked to Fewer County Suicides

Five state-specific firearm laws were independently associated with significantly lower count-level firearm-related suicide rates over a 24-hour period, according to a new cross-sectional study published today in JAMA Network Open.¹ The analysis, which drew on more than 100,000 county-year observations across all 50 states, found that counties in states with stronger combinations of these laws saw progressively larger reductions in firearm suicide rates, a pattern the authors describe as consistent with the laws working synergistically rather than in isolation.