Firearms and Gun Control: A Public-Health Concern

Abstract

Because of the serious consequences of the growing number of human injuries that involve firearms, gun control has become a concern of public health. In 1975, firearms caused the deaths of 271 persons in Massachusetts. Of that number, 145 (54 per cent) committed suicide; 112 (41 per cent) were homicides, and 14 persons (5 per cent) died in accidents or legal interventions and in unspecified situations.1 In the same year, firearms were the 13th leading cause of death in Massachusetts, second only to accidents as a cause of death for persons between the ages of 15 and 39,1 and accounting . . .