Symposia
Suicide and Self-Injury
Sabrina Arredondo Mattson, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
The University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Sabrina Arredondo Mattson, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
The University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Erin Kelly, Dr PH, MA
Research Associate
Injury & Violence Prevention Center
Aurora, Colorado
Jani Little, PhD, MA
Senior Research Associate
University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Beverly Kingston, Ph.D.
Director
The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
Boulder, Colorado
Eric Sigel, MD
MD
Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora, Colorado
Conclusions. These findings confirm the importance of conducting process and outcome evaluations to assess the implementation and impact of GSPs on suicides involving firearms. The initial findings are promising determining which factors of GSP implementation may contribute to changing behaviors and practices among the firearm business community to prevent suicide. Finally, more research is needed on the effectiveness of Gun Shop Projects.
Background: Gun Shop Projects (GSPs) are community-driven suicide prevention partnerships between the firearms community (firearm retailers, ranges, and other businesses) and local public or community health agencies. GSPs use trusted messengers in the firearms community to educate owners and employees of firearm businesses on the increased risk of suicide for firearm owners. While GSPs are being implemented in 21 states in the U.S., studies evaluating GSP implementation and impact are limited, with only three sources of publicly reported evaluative data. This presentation focuses on the factors associated with firearm businesses that deny a sale of a firearm to a person suspected of being in crisis.
Methods: We administered a cross-sectional survey to all owners or managers of firearm businesses who participated in Colorado’s GSP between 2015 and 2020 (n=196). A total of 54 owners or managers participated in the survey for a response rate of 28%. The survey included measures to understand GSP implementation, business characteristics, business practices, and individuals’ firearm background and demographics. Due to the small sample size, we examined bivariate associations using relative risk ratios, and chi-square tests for significance.
Results: The relative risk analysis showed two significant results related to GSP supported factors: (1) businesses who included suicide prevention as part of safety instruction offered to customers were almost three times more likely to deny sales compared to those that did not include suicide prevention in their training, (2.95, p< .10) and (2) businesses who reported high motivation to get involved in suicide prevention were almost eight times more likely to deny sales compared to those that were not motivated to do so (8.58, p< .05). Additional contextual and individual factors significantly associated with denying a sale included: (1) if the establishment was impacted by suicide (4.20, p< .05), (2) if the establishment was in an urban county (6.80, p< .05), and (3) if the owner/manager was a veteran (2.84, p< .10).