A new US study has revealed a relationship between high levels of gun ownership and high rates of homicide. States where the largest proportions of households contain guns have homicide rates 60% higher than states with lower prevalence of armed households. The difference is even more dramatic for firearm homicide (as opposed to homicide in general) – states with a high prevalence of household gun ownership have 114% higher rates of firearm homicide.   

The study from the Harvard University School of Public Health analysed the number of households with firearms and the number of firearm homicides across all 50 US states.

Given that nearly two out of every three US homicide victims are killed with firearms, the study's findings are significant. The authors say the study does not prove causality, but conclude "our findings suggest that the household may be an important source of firearms used to kill men, women and children in the United States".

Links:

Read the abstract of "State-level homicide victimization rates in the US in relation to

survey measures of household firearm ownership, 2001–2003”, published in the journal Social Science and Medicine.

Download the full text article of the authors' earlier study, "Rates of household firearm ownership and homicide across US regions and states, 1988-1997".