It is possible, however, that the risks of keeping a firearm in the home may outweigh the potential benefits 4. One recent survey determined that handgun owners are twice as likely as owners of long guns to report “protection from crime” as their single most important reason for keeping a gun in the home 3. Many people also keep firearms (particularly handguns) in the home for personal protection. The effectiveness of these protective measures is unclear, however. Frequently cited options to improve home security include the installation of electronic security systems, burglar bars, and reinforced security doors. Illicit-drug use, alcoholism, and domestic violence are widely believed to increase the risk of homicide, but the relative importance of these factors is unknown. Unfortunately, the influence of individual and household characteristics on the risk of homicide in the home is poorly understood. One category of homicide that is particularly threatening to our sense of safety is homicide in the home. Homicide rates declined in the United States during the early 1980s but rebounded thereafter 2. Homicide claims the lives of approximately 24,000 Americans each year, making it the 11th leading cause of death among all age groups, the 2nd leading cause of death among all people 15 to 24 years old, and the leading cause of death among male African Americans 15 to 34 years old 1. Rather than confer protection, guns kept in the home are associated with an increase in the risk of homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance. The use of illicit drugs and a history of physical fights in the home are important risk factors for homicide in the home. Virtually all of this risk involved homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance. After controlling for these characteristics, we found that keeping a gun in the home was strongly and independently associated with an increased risk of homicide (adjusted odds ratio, 2.7 95 percent confidence interval, 1.6 to 4.4). Also, case households more commonly contained an illicit-drug user, a person with prior arrests, or someone who had been hit or hurt in a fight in the home. As compared with the controls, the victims more often lived alone or rented their residence. Controls were identified for 99 percent of these, yielding 388 matched pairs. After excluding 24 cases for various reasons, we interviewed proxy respondents for 93 percent of the victims. Resultsĭuring the study period, 1860 homicides occurred in the three counties, 444 of them (23.9 percent) in the home of the victim. Crude and adjusted odds ratios were calculated with matched-pairs methods. The proxies' answers were compared with those of control subjects who were matched to the victims according to neighborhood, sex, race, and age range. MethodsĪfter each homicide, we obtained data from the police or medical examiner and interviewed a proxy for the victim. To study risk factors for homicide in the home, we identified homicides occurring in the homes of victims in three metropolitan counties. It is unknown whether keeping a firearm in the home confers protection against crime or, instead, increases the risk of violent crime in the home. The most trusted, influential source of new medical knowledge and clinical best practices in the world.
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