About 70% of those who bought a firearm during the COVID-19 pandemic reported having suicidal thoughts throughout their lives, compared to 37% of the rest of the community of gun owners.

The findings appear in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

“People who were motivated to purchase firearms during COVID-19 might have been driven by anxiety that leaves them vulnerable to suicidal ideation,” says Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and an associate professor at the Rutgers University School of Public Health.

“While this does not guarantee an increase in suicide rates, it represents an unusually large surge in risk made more troubling by the fact that firearms purchased during COVID-19 may remain in homes beyond the pandemic.”

GUN BUYERS AND SUICIDAL THOUGHTS
According to Anestis, more than 2.5 million Americans became first-time gun owners during the first four months of 2020, with an estimated two million firearms purchased alone in March 2020 when the initial surge of the coronavirus pandemic began.

“Firearm owners are usually no more likely than non-firearm owners to experience suicidal thoughts. It is possible that a higher-risk group is driving the current firearm purchasing surge, introducing long-term suicide risk into the homes of individuals who otherwise may not have acquired firearms during a time of extended social isolation, economic uncertainty, and general upheaval,” Anestis says.

Read the full article about guy buyers during the pandemic linked to higher suicide rate by Patti Verbanas at Futurity.