title: Do guns provide safety? At what cost?
abstract: Many people feel that having a gun provides greater safety for them and their family. Actually, having a firearm in the home escalates the risk for death or injury, while using it to shoot someone who endangers the household is much less common. The resultant injuries, deaths, emotional turmoil, and/or disabilities lead to greater utilization of health care and legal/police services. Payment for these expenses is provided by higher insurance premiums and tax rates. This financial aspect has become a part of our country's current political concern over firearm ownership rights, gun violence or regulation, health care costs, the economy, and taxes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Puneet
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Narang
authors.forename: Anubha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paladugu
authors.forename: Sainath Reddy
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Manda
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Smock
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gosnay
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lippmann
mesh_terms: D000061:Accidents, Home / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005389:Firearms / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D012449:Safety; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014754:Violence / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*