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In Maryland, suicides are carried out with a firearm more often than any other method yet Maryland is one of only 10 states that had more homicides than suicides committed with a firearm in 2020, despite having some of the strictest gun laws in the country.
CNS analyzed data about firearm suicides in Maryland and found five key takeaways:
Firearm homicides outnumber firearm suicides
Maryland, along with Delaware, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., is one of only 10 states that had more homicides than suicides committed with a firearm in 2020, according to a Harvard University study.
In Maryland, suicides accounted for just over a third of all firearm-related deaths in 2021, compared to 54% nationwide. Homicides accounted for 66% of firearm-related deaths in Maryland and 43% nationwide.
While firearm suicide rates have remained fairly consistent in Maryland over the past 40 years, firearm homicides shot up on the mid-1980s, started to drop in 2007, then dropped to the lowest point in the decade, to 249 deaths, in 2014. This coincided with the passing of the 2013 Firearm Safety Act, which made it more difficult to access and buy handguns in Maryland.
In 2015, firearm homicides in the state jumped to 445 and have continued to go up since.
2015 was also the year of Freddie Gray’s death in Baltimore, which has one of the highest homicide rates in the nation. Baltimore saw weeks of tense protests after Gray died in police custody and riots and violence broke out after his funeral.
While Baltimore has high rates of firearm homicide, it does not have a significantly different firearm suicide rate than the rest of Maryland.
Suicide by firearm is the most fatal method
Suicide by firearm accounted for almost half of all completed suicides in Maryland between 2001-2021, which is significantly higher than the next most common method — hanging.
“The problem is that if people use a gun for their attempt, then it results in death. So only about five or six percent of suicide attempts are by gun… but because they’re so fatal, [45%] of all suicide deaths are by gun,” said Paul Nestadt, Clinical Director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Disorders Clinic, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and chair of Maryland’s Suicide Fatality Review Committee.
Nationally, firearms accounted for over half of all successful suicides in the United States from 2001-2021. Suffocation/hanging was the second-most common method.
Firearm suicide rate in Maryland is close to the national average
Maryland does not have a higher firearm suicide rate than the nation as a whole. In fact, the average national rate of suicides completed with a firearm is slightly higher than Maryland’s, though Maryland’s rate has started going up in recent years. The rate of firearm suicides is found by dividing firearm suicides by the total number of suicides in a state or in the nation.
While there is no clear explanation for this recent uptick, it is important to note that part of the 2013 Firearm Safety Act was repealed in November of 2023 which could make it easier to access handguns quickly.
Though it is too soon to see the effects this ruling will have, “knowing what we know about firearm access and the role firearm access, and rapid firearm access, plays in suicide, I would anticipate that yes, reducing or eliminating a waiting period is likely to have a negative effect, it is likely to increase suicide risk,” said Nestad.
Rate of firearm suicide for white Maryland residents is higher than non-white residents
White people are more likely to commit suicide with a firearm than non-white people in Maryland and in the U.S. as a whole. In 2020, white people committed suicide by firearm at almost double the rate of Black people in Maryland, according to data from the CDC.
“One of the most important factors is gun access… Whites do tend to own guns much more commonly than Black Americans. They just have a higher gun ownership proportion,” said Nestadt.
In the United States, white people have higher suicide rates than non-whites in general, with a rate of almost 14 suicides per 100,000 from 2001 to 2020.
In 2020, white people had a rate of 15 suicides per 100,000, followed by American Indian/Alaska Native with 14.5, according to the CDC.
Rates of suicides by firearms are also higher in rural counties in Maryland, where it is easier and more common to access and own firearms, according to Nestadt.
Elderly people are the most likely group to commit suicide using a firearm
In 2021, 75-79 year olds in Maryland had the highest firearm suicide rate, with a rate of 13 per 100,000. Nestadt says this could be because “older men own guns… so gun ownership is a major factor in this country, unfortunately.”
For younger people, 20-24 year olds are the most likely to complete suicide with a firearm in Maryland, with a rate of 8 firearm suicides per 100,000. These statistics are age-adjusted to give consistent rates across age groups of different population sizes.
Women are also much less likely to complete suicide with a firearm across all age groups. Men account for nearly 80% of all suicides in the U.S. which could also be due to gun access and ownership, according to Nestadt.