A gun in the home increases the risk of suicide

An editorial (“Guns, Suicide, and Homicide: Individual-Level vs Population-Level Studies”) in the Annals of Internal Medicine discusses the findings of a meta-analysis of case-control studies that concludes that having a gun in the home substantially increases the risk of completed suicide.  In the editorial, David Hemenway comments that the ecological studies are equally compelling and reach the same conclusion.  The meta-analysis of case-control studies on guns in the home and homicide show a stronger relationship with female than with male victimization.  This is because while women are often shot by their partners, most men are murdered not with a gun in the home, but outside the home by other men using their own guns.