BOHICA: Guns in Home Increase Danger to Occupants, Survey Finds

[Harry Tuttle]

Guns in Home Increase Danger to Occupants, Survey Finds
11/5/2004
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/summaries/reader/0,2061,575116,00.html

Having guns in the home increases occupants' chances of being killed or injured by firearms, according to the Nov. 15 issue of the Journal of American Epidemiology.

The Journal analyzed findings from a survey that sought to identify the relationships between gun storage practices, types of gun, and number of guns in the home and risk to occupants.

The survey found that persons with guns in the home were more likely to die from gun homicides in the home, but that the risk varied by age and whether victims lived with someone else at the time of death.

While the study found that having a gun in the home increased the risk of firearms homicide and suicide, the effect that storage practices and types and numbers of guns had on risk was unclear.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

http://aje.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/160/10/929

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Guns in the Home and Risk of a Violent Death in the Home: Findings from a National Study
Linda L. Dahlberg1_, Robin M. Ikeda2 and Marcie-jo Kresnow3

1 Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
2 Epidemiology Program Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
3 Office of Statistics and Programming, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.

Data from a US mortality follow-back survey were analyzed to determine whether having a firearm in the home increases the risk of a violent death in the home and whether risk varies by storage practice, type of gun, or number of guns in the home. Those persons with guns in the home were at greater risk than those without guns in the home of dying from a homicide in the home (adjusted odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 3.4). They were also at greater risk of dying from a firearm homicide, but risk varied by age and whether the person was living with others at the time of death. The risk of dying from a suicide in the home was greater for males in homes with guns than for males without guns in the home (adjusted odds ratio = 10.4, 95% confidence interval: 5.8, 18.9). Persons with guns in the home were also more likely to have died from suicide committed with a firearm than from one committed by using a different method (adjusted odds ratio = 31.1, 95% confidence interval: 19.5, 49.6). Results show that regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home.

Key Words: firearms; homicide; suicide; violence; wounds and injuries

 

[roburado]

Of course, I assume that these epidemiologists never thought to ask, "Is the gun that hurt the resident the same as the gun owned by the household?" There may be an association, but I bet they never documented causality. More "junk science." BOHICA is right.

 

[SMMAssociates]

I believe the consensus on this bit of information is that one could equivalently say that having sheep in the home increases the chance of wearing wool....

Which is to say nonsense....

It is reasonable to assume that if someone is bent on homicide or suicide (disregarding negligent acts, children getting their hands on parent's guns, etc., which might be related to storage, but kids can find keys), then having a gun in the home will certainly increase one's chances of using a gun to do it.

However, to argue the inverse, that having a gun will result in homicide or suicide is the same as saying that flies cause garbage.

Typical anti .

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

Aren't these clowns at CDC supposed to be prohibited from spending public funds on epidemiological "studies" (really anti-gun propaganda) concerning firearms?

It's odd also that the brain trust down at CDC failed to look at the rates at which privately held firearms were used in self defense, and then draw some statistical inference about the number of deaths and injuries prevented. But that wouldn't serve an extremist left wing gun confiscation agenda would it.

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

My memory was correct:

In 1997, Congress cut funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s injury prevention center after its research angered the NRA and the gun industry.

Using emergency room data from around the country, CDC-funded researchers produced a series of studies that found the risk of being injured by a firearm was three times higher in homes with guns. The gun industry complained the studies were biased and driven by anti-gun groups.

Congress cut the centers’ budget by $2.6 million, the exact amount the CDC spent on the firearms research the previous year.

In addition, Congress has added language in every CDC budget since that prohibits the agency from spending money on studies "to advocate or promote gun control."

The CDC insists its work never advocated gun control. And Congress never has spelled out what constitutes a violation of its order.

http://www.triggerfinger.org/weblog/entry/4578.jsp

Looks like this is a rehash of the solidly discredited work of Arthur Kellerman, epidemiology's answer to the disgraced academic fraud Michael Bellesiles of "Arming America" infamy.

 

[Minion82]

Sounds like they are putting forth a correlation between firearms and firearms injury, which most of the public will confuse with "cause and effect".

People who drive cars are more likely to get into automobile accidents than people who don't drive cars. That doesn't mean owning a car will cause you to be involved in a collision.

 

[PinnedAndRecessed]

New York’s Miner Institute:
• Nearly all sick people have eaten carrots. Obviously, the effects are cumulative.
• An estimated 99.9% of all people who die from cancer and heart disease have eaten carrots.
• 99.9% of people involved in car crashes ate carrots within 60 days of their accidents.
• 93.1% of juvenile delinquents come from homes where carrots are served regularly.
• Among the people born in 1839 who later ate carrots, there has been a 100% mortality rate.

Conclusion: carrots kill.

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

I thought I vaguely recalled this story, it's an old one from 1997:

In an article on these hearings Kates modestly declined to pretend that his and the doctors' testimony was the prime factor in the Congressional decision to cut the CDC's funding. Far more important, according the Kates, was the fact the CDC took these hearings so lightly they didn't even intend to respond. Therefore when, several weeks later, Donna Shalala, the cabinet-level secretary whose department includes the CDC, made a scheduled appearance before the sub-committee, no one from the CDC appeared with her, and the CDC had failed to brief her on what to expect. As a result, she was cut to pieces with questions on the CDC and its conduct to which she simply did not know the answers. Questions Secretary Shalala could not answer included: "Is it not true that the only people who have ever received a CDC grant for study of any firearms' related issues are people with a record of committed advocacy of banning or severely restricting guns, ...can you name any exceptions?"


"CDC Director David Satcher asserts that CDC evaluators have found the firearms studies of Doctor Arthur Kellermann outstanding and among the best work the CDC has funded. Are you aware that other scholars questioned Kellerman's results, saying they do not appear to square with those portions of his data published as supporting them? Are you aware that when other scholars asked Kellerman for the full data supposedly supporting his results, he refuses to reveal the data? Are you aware that the CDC refuses to require him to reveal the data, which was collected with public funds? Can you think of a justification for a doctor refusing to supply data supposedly supporting his results so that those results can be evaluated? Can you think of any justification for the CDC thus rendering publicly funded data into private data? (NOTE: Professor Lawrence Southwick of the State University of New York, one of the scholars referred to in these questions, has commented that Kellerman's resfusal to provide corroborating data for his research renders his work no more credibly than articles in the Ladies Home journal. However, as Don Kates humorously points out, this patently unfair to the Ladies Home journal. If one writes to the Journal asking for the basis on which it approves certain products, one promptly gets back a copy of each test or evaulation performed by the magazine on those particular products.)

More...

http://www.ssaa.org.au/blue.html

Bottom line: anything from the CDC on firearms injuries is untrustworty data to say the least.

 

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

The references page from the study mentioned in the first post in this thread uses as principal references.....Arthur Kellerman's discredited work.

What a freaking joke. Paid for with taxpayer's money.



REFERENCES

Arias E, Anderson RN, Kung HC, et al. Deaths: final data for 2001. Natl Vital Stat Rep 2003;52:1–116.[Medline]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2004. (Available at the following Internet website: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/default.htm).

Maguire K, Pastore AL. Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics, 2000. Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001 (Publication NCJ 190251).

Cummings P, Koepsell TD. Does owning a firearm increase or decrease the risk of death? JAMA 1998;280:471–3.[Free Full Text]

Kleck G. What are the risks and benefits of keeping a gun in the home? JAMA 1998;280:473–5.[Free Full Text]

Birckmayer J, Hemenway D. Suicide and firearm prevalence: are youth disproportionately affected? Suicide Life Threat Behav 2001;31:303–10.[CrossRef][Medline]

Miller M, Azrael D, Hemenway D. Household firearm ownership and suicide rates in the United States. Epidemiology 2002;13:517–24.[CrossRef][Medline]

Kaplan MS, Geling O. Firearm suicides and homicides in the United States: regional variations and patterns of gun ownership. Soc Sci Med 1998;46:1227–33.[CrossRef][Medline]

Loftin C, McDowall D, Wiersema B, et al. Effects of restrictive licensing of handguns on homicide and suicide in the District of Columbia. N Engl J Med 1991;325:1615–20.[Abstract]

Sloan JH, Kellermann AL, Reay DT, et al. Handgun regulations, crime, assaults, and homicide: a tale of two cities. N Engl J Med 1988;319:1256–62.[Abstract]

Sloan JH, Rivara FP, Reay DT, et al. Firearm regulation and rates of suicide: a comparison of two metropolitan areas. N Engl J Med 1990;322:369–73.[Abstract]

Boor M, Bair JH. Suicide rates, handgun control laws, and sociodemographic variables. Psychol Rep 1990;66:923–30.[Medline]

Kellermann AL, Rivara FP, Somes G, et al. Suicide in relation to gun ownership. N Engl J Med 1992;327:467–72.[Abstract]

Kellermann AL, Rivara FP, Rushforth NB, et al. Gun ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the home. N Engl J Med 1993;329:1084–91.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Brent DA, Perper JA, Goldstein CE, et al. Risk factors for adolescent suicide: a comparison of adolescent suicide victims with suicidal inpatients. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1988;45:581–8.[Abstract]

Brent DA, Perper JA, Allman CJ, et al. The presence and accessibility of firearms in the homes of adolescent suicides: a case-control study. JAMA 1991;266:2989–95.[Abstract]

Brent DA, Perper JA, Moritz G, et al. Firearms and adolescent suicide: a community case-control study. Am J Dis Child 1993;147:1066–71.[Medline]

Shah S, Hoffman RE, Wake L, et al. Adolescent suicide and household access to firearms in Colorado: results of a case-control study. J Adolesc Health 2000;26:157–63.[CrossRef][Medline]

Conwell Y, Duberstein PR, Connor K, et al. Access to firearms and risk for suicide in middle-aged and older adults. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2002;10:407–16.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Cummings P, Koepsell TD, Grossman DG, et al. The association between the purchase of a handgun and homicide or suicide. Am J Public Health 1997;87:974–8.[Abstract]

Wintemute GJ, Parham CA, Beaumont JJ, et al. Mortality among recent purchasers of handguns. N Engl J Med 1999;341:1583–9.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
Beautrais AL, Joyce PR, Mulder RT. Access to firearms and the risk of suicide: a case-control study. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 1996;30:741–8.[Medline]

Kleck G, Hogan M. National case-control study of homicide offending and gun ownership. Soc Probl 1999;46:275–93.

Wiebe DJ. Homicide and suicide risks associated with firearms in the home: a national case-control study. Ann Emerg Med 2003;41:771–82.[CrossRef][Medline]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1993 National Mortality Followback Survey. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. (Available at the following Internet website: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nmfs/nmfs.htm).

Shaw BV. SUDAAN software for the statistical analysis of correlated data, release 7.0. Research Triangle Park, NC: Research Triangle Institute, 1996.

Ludwig J, Cook PJ, Smith TW. The gender gap in reporting household gun ownership. Am J Public Health 1998;88:1715–18.[Abstract]

Nelson DE, Powell K, Johnson CJ, et al. Household firearm storage practices: do responses differ by whether or not individuals ever use firearms? Am J Prev Med 1999;16:298–302.[CrossRef][Medline]

Azrael D, Miller M, Hemenway D. Are household firearms stored safely? It depends on whom you ask. Pediatrics 2000;106:E31.[CrossRef][Medline]

Cook PJ, Ludwig J. Guns in America: national survey on private ownership and use of firearms. Washington DC: National Institute of Justice, United States Department of Justice, 1997. (Publication NCJ 165476).

Kleck G, Gertz M. Armed resistance to crime: the prevalence and nature of self-defense with a gun. J Crim Law Criminol 1995;86:143–86.

Gotsch KE, Annest JL, Mercy JA, et al. Surveillance for fatal and nonfatal firearm-related injuries—United States, 1993–1998. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2001;50(SS-2):1–34.

 

[Stickjockey]

NEWS FLASH!

Driving a car results in higher risk of injury in car accidents! Film at eleven!

 

[Norton]

They got it all wrong. Breaking into the home of someone who owns a gun increases the risk of being shot by a gun.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Aren't these clowns at CDC supposed to be prohibited from spending public funds on epidemiological "studies" (really anti-gun propaganda) concerning firearms?

That's the way I recall it.

I think we need to let our elected misrepresentatives know it's time to pull the funding plug on these anti-Second Amendment bigots.

 

[Desertdog]

"Having guns in the home increases occupants' chances of being killed or injured by firearms":banghead:

Not having a gun in the home increases the chances of being killed or injured by means other than firearms, including clubs and knives held by the BG.

 

[White Horseradish]

What I don't understand here is the idiotic terms "gun homicide" and "gun suicide". Are people killed by gus somehow "deader" than the ones killed by other means?

Death is death, the tools are irrelevant. :banghead:

 

[SMMAssociates]

What I don't understand here is the idiotic terms "gun homicide" and "gun suicide". Are people killed by guns somehow "deader" than the ones killed by other means?

White Horseradish: (My wife's uncle used to make that - it was ready when it ate the metal lid off the jar.... )

The "gun" thing is a way to further vilify guns and us.... It's a media thing....

The media seem to think that if a gun wasn't involved, the incident wouldn't have happened. I've called the Tooth Fairy for confirmation....

(Locally, some years ago, we had a shooting with a "high power assault rifle." Turned out, a couple days later, to have been a .22 pistol.... )

 

[Lupine]

What it all boils down to is this:

If this study is legitimate (and I doubt it is), I still have the right to weigh the risks and decide for myself.

It's a given that junk food, when consumed irresponsibly, is bad for us. Does that mean junk food should be banned? No.

People who are worried about their children drowning should either teach their kids to swim (supervised, at the appropriate age) or not buy a house with a pool. Though drowning kills more children than guns (and please note that "children" include 20-year-olds according to the CDC) I don't see any movement toward water safety legislation. (Mothers Against Bathtubs!)

Guess what, people? The world is a dangerous place.

Do you know that there are people who think Grand Canyon should have a fence around it to prevent folks from falling in or jumping? It's true. I've seen letters.

So watch your step. Pay attention. Teach your kids to listen and follow instructions. Don't run with scissors. Don't pet strange dogs. Don't smoke. Don't get in the car with strangers. Don't drive drunk. Don't golf in thunderstorms. If you're depressed, talk to a friend/clergy/doctor/counselor. If you off yourself in spite of it all, please don't make a mess. Don't let your toddler play with the blowtorch. Don't have unprotected sex. Respect other people's stuff and space. Be courteous and don't leave your skateboard on the sidewalk where somebody who isn't paying attention could trip on it. Don't play in traffic. Look both ways before crossing the road. Don't feed the bears. Don't hit your sister, she's taking karate and can kick your butt. Eat your vegetables. Don't steal. Ask before you take. Respect yourself. Talk to your kids. Call your mother.

 

[Zundfolge]

What I don't understand here is the idiotic terms "gun homicide" and "gun suicide". Are people killed by gus somehow "deader" than the ones killed by other means?

Death is death, the tools are irrelevant. :banghead:

No, you don't get it ... guns have mystical powers and will make otherwise happy, well adjusted people just "go off" and kill others or themselves


One problem with this (and the original Kellerman "study") is that they don't differentiate between legal and illegal gun owners.

In other words, based on this study, a gang banger who keeps a stolen gun under his pillow has the same chances of dying or being injured by gunfire as an Orthodontist who collects Civil War era percussion revolvers.

Puhleez



Thank God the antis are running out of steam and having to dredge up their old, easily discredited lies.

I'll be able to counter this one in my sleep.

 

[para.2]

Zundfolge:

I never knew you were an orthodontist!

 

[Hkmp5sd]

More people die in hospitals than any other single location. Therefore, visiting a hospital greatly increases the odds of you dying in a hospital.

Having a swimming pool in the back yard greatly increases your odds of drowning in a backyard swimming pool.

Having a chainsaw in your garage greatly increases the odds of you or a member of your family being dismembered by a chainsaw.

 

[DRZinn]

We here may be able to discredit the study without even trying, but the sad truth is that that won't happen in the mainstream. As far as the sheeple are concerned, it'll look legitimate.

And I wonder how the stats would look if you took the inner cities out of the equation....

 

[Brian Dale]

Continuing to fund the CDC with insufficient oversight greatly increases the odds of our seeing more of these ersatz "studies" --- whoops, I guess that causality is a part of that one.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I'd rather see public funding for "health care" concentrate on things like flu vaccines, bio-terrorism, West Niles skeeter, AIDS/HIV, STDs rather than social issues.

 

[erik the bold]

I didn't know owning firearms was a disease:

http://library.thinkquest.org/15569/car1bch1.html?tqskip1=1&tqtime=1110

Epidemiologist
Duties and Responsibilities:
Epidemiologists study the frequency and distribution of diseases within human populations and environments. Specifically, they measure the incidence of disease occurrence and relate it to different characteristics of populations and environments. Epidemiologists perform research, education, and public health practice in universities, government agencies, international organizations, and private corporations. Epidemiologists often:

* Work on developing or refining methods of measuring and evaluating disease occurrences.
* Develop and recommend public health policy.
* Study or research chronic diseases, infectious diseases, disease outbreaks, injuries, occupations, and environments.

I guess I better spend more time with the folks that are infected. Another heapin' helpin' of RKBA please!

 

[GSB]

Having guns in the home increases occupants' chances of being killed or injured by firearms, according to the Nov. 15 issue of the Journal of American Epidemiology.

One presumes that having a chainsaw in the home increases occupants' chances of being killed or injured by chainsaws, too.

 

[BogBabe]

When you follow the links and finally get to the actual article in the Journal of Epidemiology, you discover facts like this:

The "survey" population sample was people who died in the home, or enh route to the hospital from the home. Living people who have guns in the home were not considered.

Accidental poisonings or poisonings of undetermined intent, unintentional firearm injuries and firearm injuries of undetermined intent, and other deaths of undetermined cause were excluded from the study sample on the basis that they could be homicides or suicides. This automatically skews the results toward "gun deaths," because when a "gun death" occurs, it becomes pretty obvious that there was a gun. Death by other causes leaves that an unknown.

Deaths for which information on firearms in the home was missing were also excluded. Again, skews toward "gun deaths."

Blacks, persons less than 35 years of age or older than age 100 years, and persons who died from external causes of homicide, suicide, and unintentional injury were oversampled. Let's do another Kellerman survey!

The study itself asserts that it considered "whether having a firearm in the home increases the risk of a violent death in the home relative to other causes of death in the home" -- IOW, there's not even an attempt to compare the risk level of having guns versus not guns, but merely the comparative risk of "firearm deaths" relative to deaths from other causes.

I would say that if one can conclude from this "study" that having guns in the house increases your risk of death by firearm relative to death from other causes then it would also be perfectly valid to conclude that having guns reduces your risk of death due to cancer, heart disease, drowning, pneumonia, morbid obesity, etc.

This all in the introductory part, before you even get to the actual methodology.

How can these people call themselves scholars and researchers?