Extreme Risk Protection Orders and Firearm and Nonfirearm Suicides in the US

Were Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) laws passed alone (no other firearm laws passed simultaneously or 1 year after) during 2018 to 2020 associated with fewer firearm suicides without shifts to nonfirearm suicides?In this cohort study of US county-level suicide data in 4 states with and 8 without ERPO laws, ERPOs were associated with 675 fewer estimated firearm suicides over the treatment period without measurable increases in nonfirearm suicides.These results suggest ERPOs may serve as effective public health tools to reduce firearm suicides without increasing suicides by alternative methods.

Corresponding Author: Timothy T. Brown, PhD, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, #5302, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 (timothy.brown@berkeley.edu).

Link to the article in your story

We encourage you to link out to this article in your story using the link below. It includes an access token that will give free access to the article for your readers up to one year after publication. (The link will be live after the article publishes and embargo is lifted.)

Please see the article for additional information, including full author list, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

Need more information? Contact us.