Firearm use among suicidal older adults: Findings from the National Violent Death Reporting System

Suicide is an important cause of death in older adulthood, and most (80%) older men who complete suicide do so with firearms. This paper examines a number of risk factors and precipitating circumstances that contribute to suicidal behavior involving firearms among men aged 65 and older. Data were obtained from the 2003-07 National Violent Death Reporting System. Using multivariate logistic regression, a model was developed to compare older male suicide decedents who used firearms from those who used other suicide methods. The results show that the presence of a health problem at the time of death was one of the best predictors of completed suicide with a firearm. Place of death and veteran status further increased the likelihood of firearm use among older men. Suicides occurring in rural counties and in the South were significantly related to firearm use. Although consistently linked to suicidal behavior in the literature, our findings suggest that standard mental health markers of suicide risk such as “treated and diagnosed for a mental health problem,” “previous suicide attempt,” and “left suicide note” were inversely related to suicidal behavior involving firearms. The findings challenges the utility of defining suicide exclusively in individual, psychological terms. We conclude that results from earlier studies on firearm suicide are incomplete and indicate the need for an understanding of the broader sociocultural context of male suicidal behavior involving firearms.