Austrian firearms: data require cautious approach

In Australia, the 1996 National Firearms Agreement (NFA) was introduced following the Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people were killed. The NFA introduced access restrictions (particularly of assault weapons), storage regulations and a gun buy-back scheme to reduce firearms in the community. The recent killings at Virginia Tech have refuelled the debate on the causal impact of the NFA, with rates of homicides virtually unchanged but substantial reductions in numbers and rates of firearm suicide (Chapman et al, 2006). However, the dramatic decrease in suicide deaths by firearms in Australia began prior to 1996.

In Queensland, on the basis of the Queensland Suicide Register (QSR), rates of firearm suicide in 1994 were more than 30% less than those recorded in 1990 (approximately 10 in 100 000). In addition, in 1994 there was a crossing-over between declining rates of firearm suicide and increasing rates of hanging suicide. Both trends between 1990 (year of constitution of the QSR) and 2004 showed statistically significant variations (R ²=0.88 for firearms and R ²=0.70 for hanging), with firearm suicide being more than 5 times less frequent than hanging suicide in 2004 (it was 2 times more frequent in 1990). Most firearm suicides involved hunting rifles, the use of which started to appear strongly reduced by early 1990s. Minor declines were recorded in the use of other weapons.

Kapusta et al (2007) underline the successful effect of the Austrian reform on firearm use on both homicide and suicide rates; moreover, they did not witness any increase in suicide with other methods. We believe this has not happened in Queensland, where the current legislation has not restricted firearms within the community (around 500 000 in four million inhabitants) and there has not been a reduction in male suicide rates (De Leo et al, 2006). However, a big shift in the choice of suicide methods has occurred, with younger males increasingly choosing hanging. As pointed out by Kapusta et al, causality remains speculative in this type of observation. Although controlling access to means remains of paramount importance in suicide prevention (De Leo, 2002), it seems that a change in societal and cultural views towards firearms has played a bigger role than the NFA. To verify this, we are currently checking if those who died by suicide through other methods were also in possession (and/or had availability) of a firearm at the time of their death.