Threat sensitivity and firearm storage among firearm owners with and without a history of suicidal ideation

Body of Abstract: Abstract Title: Threat sensitivity and firearm storage among firearm owners with and without a history of suicidal ideation

Tracks and Subcategories: Research & Innovation

IRB Approval: The study received approval from the Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences IRB

Abstract:
Research

Aims: Firearms account for the majority of suicide deaths within the US and risk is particularly elevated among individuals living in homes where firearms are typically stored unsecured (e.g. loaded and unlocked). Further complicating the situation is that suicide risk among those with firearm access has proven particularly difficult to characterize, as those who die by firearm suicide are less likely than other suicide decedents to seek mental healthcare prior to their death and firearm owners with a history of suicidal thoughts who have hidden their ideation from others and avoided mental healthcare are more likely to store their firearms unsecured. A better understanding of more readily assessed risk markers among firearm owners may thus serve a valuable suicide prevention function.
One possibility worth considering is threat sensitivity – the degree to which individuals view the world as threatening and other people as unworthy of trust – which has been shown to be associated with both the intent to purchase firearms and actual firearm purchasing behavior. To date, however, no studies have examined the extent to which (1) firearm owners with a history of suicidal thoughts exhibit particularly elevated levels of threat sensitivity and (2) threat sensitivity is associated with a greater propensity to store firearms unsecured.

Methods: To address this, we collected a nationally representative sample of adults (n = 8,265) between May 15 and May 28, 2024. We first compared those with and without firearm access and a history of suicidal ideation on threat sensitivity and then, among those with firearm access, we assessed the extent to which threat sensitivity is associated with increased odds of unsecure firearm storage.

Results: Even when controlling for demographics (e.g. age, gender), community factors (e.g. population density, % of neighborhood below the poverty line), and mental health (e.g. current depressive symptoms), the groups differed on their mean levels of threat sensitivity (F = 38.12, p < .001; pη2 = .014). All four groups differed from one another, with threat sensitivity highest among those with firearm access and a history of suicidal thoughts, followed by those without firearm access but with a history of suicidal thoughts, those with firearm access but no history of suicidal thoughts, and those with no firearm access or history of suicidal thoughts. Results further indicated that, even when controlling for the same extensive set of covariates, threat sensitivity was associated with unsecured firearm storage, with each unit increase in threat sensitivity resulting in 5% greater odds of storing at least one firearm loaded and unlocked (95% CI = 1.03 – 1.07).

Conclusions: Among firearms owners with a history of suicidal thoughts, perceptions of danger may be elevated, rendering a community already reticent to seek mental healthcare even more unlikely to disclose their risk and more likely to store firearms in a manner that prioritizes quick, ready access over suicide prevention. Such conclusions are consistent with prior work within the military demonstrating that Servicemembers with suicidal thoughts are more likely to store their firearms unsecured. Threat sensitivity might represent a variable that individuals are more likely to discuss openly and thus could serve as a proxy for risk that results in the provision of resources promoting secure firearm storage as a key component to safe firearm ownership. Furthermore, efforts to counter narratives that promote threat sensitivity and the belief that unsecured firearms provide protective value could serve as an upstream public health approach towards suicide prevention among firearm owners.