Fewer Guns, Ergo Fewer Deaths

Despite tens of thousands of yearly gun-related homicides and suicides, despite nearly weekly mass gun-related murders in schools and the workplace, despite our national leadership among nations in gun-related fatalities, we must accept that national gun legislation, for now, is dead. Guns are everywhere: on the streets, in the malls, in our churches, and in our homes. It has become much too easy in a moment of anger or depression to grab a loaded weapon in a desk drawer and kill someone or ourselves, as a Research Letter by Butler et al¹ in this issue of JAMA Internal Medicine illustrates. Rather than protecting against intruders, guns in the home are far more likely to be involved with homicide or suicide than self-defense.¹ This finding mirrors similar findings from studies published in 1986,² 1992,³ and 1993,⁴ itself a sad commentary on the lack of progress.