In a recent study, conducted by the Global Burden of Disease 2016 Injury Collaborators, a worldwide collaboration to study the burden of various diseases, researchers have presented an extensive statistical estimation of the damage caused by firearms across the world. The study reports that approximately 251, 000 people worldwide have lost their lives from firearm injuries in 2016 alone! The results of the study are published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
The use of firearms often lead to homicide, suicide, and accidental injuries and poses a severe public health issue with great sociological and economic impact. The rising number of mass shootings in the world is a testimonial to this fact. However, the rate of damage due to firearms is not uniform across the world as it is affected by several factors like socioeconomic inequities, lack of mental health support, availability of firearms and illegal drug trade.
The current study analysed data about firearm injury deaths in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2016 and reported them by age, sex, year and location of those inflicted by death. The primary cause of firearm death in 2016 was homicide (64% of cases) followed by suicide (27%) and unintentional firearm deaths (9%). Although the rate of firearm homicide has not decreased since 1990, the rate of suicide is diminishing each year by 1.6%, says the study.
Of the approximately 251, 000 who have lost their lives due to firearms, the study reports that half of these victims are from six countries—Brazil, United States, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Guatemala. The study has not presented any specific analysis in the Indian context, but it reports 22,500 and 26,500 firearm deaths in India in 1990 and 2016 respectively. The good news, however, is that there is an overall decrease in the rate of such deaths across the world, although this is not true for some nations.
The study also observed a marked difference in the mortality rate for different sex and age groups. Generally, males are at a higher risk of being a victim or initiating the firearm-related damages. “The gendered nature of firearm violence highlights the need for targeted forms of intervention that address cultural components of firearm use by and against men”, say the researchers.
This study is one of the few that has presented a detailed understanding of the patterns in such deaths at a global scale. The researchers hope that such analyses can help to develop strategies to control firearm-related deaths as suicide and homicide are intentional behaviours.
“Where firearm mortality dominantly occurs as interpersonal violence, different intervention strategies will likely be necessary in contrast to countries where most firearm mortality occurs as firearm suicide. Identifying countries with similar profiles of firearm violence can provide opportunities to examine how risk factors, histories, cultures, economies, or legal frameworks may have produced similar outcomes,” remark the researchers.