Depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts… People who want to get a firearm have more psychiatric problems than average.
- The attempted assassination of Donald Trump has reignited the debate on firearms in the United States.
- In 2022, 48,204 deaths were caused by firearms in the United States, including suicides.
- The desire to buy a gun is often linked to psychiatric problems, according to a new survey of Americans.
Echoing the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, a new study has just demonstrated that the desire to buy a firearm is often linked to psychological disorders.
To conduct their study, the researchers recruited 660 Americans through ResearchMatch. To be included in the cohort, participants had to be at least 18 years old, speak English, and be of sound mind.
The scientists then assessed the presence of the following mental health problems via questionnaires: depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol dependence and suicidal thoughts.
Gun Purchases: What Are the Associated Psychiatric Problems?
One of the main findings of their analyses was that individuals who intended to purchase a firearm suffered more from all of the psychiatric problems we have just discussed compared to those who did not intend to make this type of purchase. In contrast, potential firearm purchasers and non-purchasers showed no difference in terms of cognitive functioning.
Another notable finding: owning a firearm for self-protection was associated with a decrease in “mental flexibility”, which involves the adaptation of attention and the modification of strategies.
Despite the interesting results, the study detailed in this article does have some limitations. First, the sample of people was predominantly white (79%), which prevents the generalization of the results to other ethnic groups. Another weakness of the survey is the relatively small sample size, which may in fact reduce the statistical power of the results.
The research was authored by Darrin M. Aase, Stephanie McManimen, Jarrod Hay, Cameron Long, and Craig J. Bryan.
United States: “Gun violence is a public health crisis”
On June 25, the U.S. Surgeon General declared that gun violence was a “public health crisis”.
“The collective cost of gun violence on our nation’s mental health is immense,” Vivek Murthy wrote on X. “The trauma and grief that so many Americans experience from gun-related injuries and deaths has already taken a serious toll,” he stressed.
In 2022 in the United States, 48,204 deaths were caused by firearms in the country, including suicides.