Firearm Prevalence and Homicides of Law Enforcement Officers in the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID11035440
AuthorsDavid I Swedler (At the time of this study, David I. Swedler was with Environmental Health Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, and Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, MA. Molly M. Simmons is with the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Francesca Dominici is with the Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health. David Hemenway is with...), David Swedler (0000-0001-9257-0665, Johns Hopkins University), Molly M Simmons (0000-0002-8912-7379, At the time of this study, David I. Swedler was with Environmental Health Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, and Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, MA. Molly M. Simmons is with the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Francesca Dominici is with the Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health. David Hemenway is with...), Francesca Dominici (0000-0002-9382-0141, At the time of this study, David I. Swedler was with Environmental Health Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, and Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, MA. Molly M. Simmons is with the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Francesca Dominici is with the Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health. David Hemenway is with...), David Hemenway (0000-0002-8125-1690, At the time of this study, David I. Swedler was with Environmental Health Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, and Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, MA. Molly M. Simmons is with the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Francesca Dominici is with the Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health. David Hemenway is with...)
Year2015
Volume105
Issue10
Pages2042-2048
Publication date2015-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
PublisherAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.2015.302749
PMID26270316
OpenAlexW2356453746
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited35

Objectives. In the United States, state firearm ownership has been correlated with homicide rates. More than 90% of homicides of law enforcement officers (LEOs) are committed with firearms. We examined the relationship between state firearm ownership rates and LEO occupational homicide rates. Methods. We obtained the number LEOs killed from 1996 to 2010 from a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) database. We calculated homicide rates per state as the number of officers killed per number of LEOs per state, obtained from another FBI database. We obtained the mean household firearm ownership for each state from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Results. Using Poisson regression and controlling for factors known to affect homicide rates, we associated firearm ownership with the homicide rates for LEOs (incidence rate ratio = 1.044; P = .005); our results were supported by cross-sectional and longitudinal sensitivity analyses. LEO homicide rates were 3 times higher in states with high firearm ownership compared with states with low firearm ownership. Conclusions. High public gun ownership is a risk for occupational mortality for LEOs in the United States. States could consider methods for reducing firearm ownership as a way to reduce occupational deaths of LEOs

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System · Environmental health · Homicide · Injury prevention · Law enforcement · Occupational safety and health · Poison control · Poisson regression · Political science · Population · Sociology · Suicide prevention · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Demography · Gun Ownership and Violence Research · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Injury Epidemiology and Prevention · Law · Medicine

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