Gun prevalence and suicide

In light of the ongoing debate over tighter firearm regulations, this paper considers the relationship between gun prevalence and suicide. I exploit a reform in Switzerland that reduced the prevalence of military-issued guns in private households. In Switzerland, military service is compulsory for men, and military-issued guns account for nearly half of the total number of firearms available. The results show that the firearm suicide rate decreases by 9% for a reduction in gun prevalence of 1000 guns per 100,000 inhabitants. The elasticity of gun suicides with respect to firearm prevalence is +0.48, but converges towards zero for low levels of gun prevalence. The overall suicide rate is negatively and significantly related to firearm prevalence, which indicates that non-gun methods of suicide are not perfect replacements for firearms.