Friday, October 09, 2020

New study details rural-urban divide in gun suicides

"A new study shows rural congressional districts have far higher suicide rates than urban ones and that firearms are a major factor," Heath Druzin reports for Guns and America. "The study from gun control advocacy group Everytown For Gun Safety underscores a rural-urban divide exacerbated by uneven access to mental health care and the relationship between access to firearms and suicide rates."

Suicide accounts for most gun deaths in this country, and firearms are the most common way for people to die by suicide. According to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 24,000 Americans died from firearm suicide in 2018, Druzin reports.

"The difference in suicide rates between rural and urban areas has grown over the last two decades, according to a 2018 CDC study," Druzin reports. "What is unique about the Everytown study is that it examines suicide rates by congressional district. The highest rates were in districts with large rural populations in the West and South."

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