State-level household gun ownership proxy dataset, 1949–2020

Abstract

This dataset expands an existing proxy for U.S. household gun ownership rates, known as the rate of firearm suicides divided by all suicides (FSS), covering 1949–2020, with newly added data for the 1949–1972 period. For each state and year, the dataset provides the count and population-adjusted rate of suicides, firearm suicides, homicides, and firearm homicides, among other figures. The first 30 years of firearm suicide/homicide counts were transcribed from scanned National Center for Health Statistics reports; later figures come from the CDC's WONDER and WISQARS systems. Unlike other measures of gun prevalence that focus on national or regional variation, this proxy captures trends in household gun ownership at the state level. Moreover, it does not rely on self-reported data, which are susceptible to social desirability bias. To the best of our knowledge, this extended proxy dataset represents the longest-ranging collection of state-level gun ownership rates available to date. By utilizing the FSS proxy, researchers can examine long-term patterns and changes in household gun ownership rates. This dataset also opens up opportunities to explore the effects of gun ownership on public health, social dynamics, policy, and other relevant areas of research.

Keywords

• Firearm proxy
• Household gun ownership rates
• Firearm suicide
• Firearm homicide