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INTRODUCTION DEATHS FROM FIREARM USE, EXTERNAL(a) AND ALL CAUSES
(a) Accidents, poisoning, violence. (b) Firearms deaths as a percentage of deaths due to external causes. (c) Firearms deaths as a percentage of deaths due to all causes. (d) Data for single year. Data for other periods are three-year averages. Refer to table 2 for numbers of deaths 1980-95. The majority (78%) of firearm deaths during the reference period were suicides, 15% were homicides while deaths resulting from the accidental discharge of firearms contributed 5%. The remaining 2% were made up of a small number of deaths resulting from legal intervention (deaths by law enforcement agents in the performance of legal duties) and deaths where the intent was undetermined. OVERALL TRENDS The crude firearms death rate declined from 4.8 deaths per 100,000 population in 1980 to 2.6 in 1995 (see table 9). This represented a decline of 46% over a period of 16 years. The rate of decline observed remains about the same when firearm death rates are standardised for age to minimise the effect of variations in the age structure of the population over the years. (For details on standardisation see paragraph 9 of the Explanatory Notes.) The 1995 standardised rate of 2.6 was the lowest death rate from firearm use recorded during the reference period. While the general trend was downward there have been fluctuations over the reference period. These fluctuations were influenced more by the year-to-year movement of death rates from firearm suicides than by firearm homicides or firearm accidents, reflecting the significance of suicides as the major component of firearm deaths. FIREARM DEATHS BY TYPE OF DEATH
(a) Standardised per 100,000 of the 1991 population (see paragraph 9 of the Explanatory Notes). (b) Due to the small number of cases reported, firearm deaths classified under legal intervention and other types of death are not shown separately. However the total column includes all deaths. While death rates from firearm accidents, suicides and homicides have all decreased in recent years, differences in their rates of change have affected the proportion of firearm deaths attributable to such deaths. The proportion of firearms deaths resulting from accidents decreased from 7.2% in 1980-82 to 3.1% in 1995. Correspondingly, the proportion of firearm deaths due to suicides increased from 76% to 81% over the same period. The proportion of homicides remained relatively stable. TYPE OF DEATH AS A PROPORTION OF FIREARM DEATHS
SEX VARIATION Firearm deaths are much more common among males than females. Over the reference period the largest single group of firearm deaths by type of death and sex were male suicides which were 73% of the total. Males made up the majority of each type of firearm death. The proportion of deaths that were males was highest for suicides (93%) and lowest for homicide (64%). PROPORTION OF FIREARM DEATHS THAT ARE MALE, BY TYPE OF DEATH
Among males, the standardised firearms death rate decreased from 8.7 deaths per 100,000 in 1980 to 4.8 in 1995, while the much lower female rate decreased from 1.3 deaths per 100,000 to 0.5 over the same period. Most of the decline in the rates occurred after 1988. These declines were evident for each category of firearm death and for all age groups (see tables 10 and 12). STANDARDISED FIREARM DEATH RATES(a), BY SEX (a) Standardised per 100,000 of the 1991 population (see paragraph 9 of the Explanatory Notes). AGE VARIATION Age-specific firearm death rates were lowest among children and rose with age, peaking in the 15-34 years age group. Rates then declined until ages 55 and over where death rates began to rise again. This pattern reflects the pattern for male deaths. About 42% of firearm deaths among males occurred in the 15-34 years age group, with deaths among those 65 years and over accounting for about 13% of all firearm deaths (see table 11). Age-specific death rates were higher for males than females in all age groups. While females in general followed a pattern similar to males, the deaths were distributed over a wider span of adult age groups. The type of firearm death varied with age. Over the reference period 210 firearm deaths of children under 15 years were registered. Of these, the largest proportion were due to homicides (46%), followed by accidents (30%). In the 15-24 years age group, the majority (78%) of firearm deaths were suicides, while accidents (7%) ranked third behind homicides (12%). This pattern remained the same in the adult age groups. While homicides ranked second in all adult age groups, the proportion was highest for those aged 25-44. At older ages (55 years and over) the proportion of suicides increased further while the proportion of homicides decreased. TYPE OF DEATH AS A PROPORTION OF FIREARM DEATHS, BY AGE GROUP, 1980 TO 1995
GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION BY USUAL RESIDENCE States and Territories Age-standardised firearm death rates classified according to the place of usual residence of the deceased, varied widely between States and Territories (see table 13). Although in small populations the death rates can be substantially affected even by a small change in the number of deaths, the Northern Territory and Tasmania stand out as the two areas with the highest rates. The Northern Territory rate fell substantially over the period, from about 14 deaths per 100,000 to around 7, whereas the Tasmanian rate showed little change, remaining at about 7 deaths per 100,000 (except in the rate shown for 1995, which was based on the number of deaths for a single year only). The fall in the Northern Territory rate was partly due to a decreasing contribution from accidents and homicides. Queensland also recorded relatively high death rates. It had a rate of 6.1 deaths per 100,000 population in 198082 which rose to an average of 6.4 in 198388 before decreasing to an average rate of 4.3 in 1992-94 and to 3.4 in 1995. Western Australia consistently recorded the lowest rate over the period. The Western Australian rate of 3.5 deaths per 100,000 in 1980-82 decreased to 2.6 by 1992-94. Further disaggregation by type of firearm deaths at the State and Territory level is not possible due to the small number of deaths. Capital cities, other urban, and rural areas The analysis of firearm deaths by capital cities, other urban areas and rural areas is only possible from 1986 onwards as the estimated resident population at the Statistical Local Area (SLA) level, are available only from that year. The data have been classified according to the place of usual residence of the deceased. Throughout the reference period, rates were highest for the rural areas and lowest for the capital cities. In all geographic areas the firearm deaths rates declined, although the rate of decline was not uniform across the areas. FIREARM DEATHS BY GEOGRAPHIC AREA
(a) Percentage of total number of firearms deaths. (b) Average standardised rates per 100,000 of the mid-year population. 1995 rate is for single year. TYPE OF FIREARM REPORTED Based on the information given on the death certificate, deaths are classified according to the following weapon types: hand gun, shotgun, hunting rifle, military firearm, and other firearm. The other firearm category includes those firearm deaths where the information given on the death certificates was not adequate to determine the specific weapon type. Of the total firearms deaths registered during the reference period, in 3% of cases the firearm type involved was not specified on the death certificate, while in about 34% of the cases the information given on the death certificate was inadequate to ascribe a specific weapon type and hence these have been classified as other firearms (see paragraph 6 of the Explanatory Notes). Among those deaths where the firearm involved was identified on the death certificate, the hunting rifle was the weapon most commonly reported. About 63% of firearm deaths where type of firearm was identified involved a hunting rifle and 30% involved a shotgun. The number of firearm deaths involving hand guns was about 5%, perhaps reflecting the longstanding legal restrictions on hand guns (dating from the 1930s). Among the deaths for which the weapon involved is known, the majority (54%) were suicides involving a hunting rifle while a further 24% were suicides with shotguns. TYPE OF FIREARM DEATH, BY TYPE OF FIREARM INVOLVED 1980-95
(a) Includes deaths due to legal intervention, and other deaths, which are not shown separately. (b) Percentage of total deaths (6,676) where the firearm type involved was identified. (c) Firearms deaths where type of firearm involved was identified on the death certificate. MONTH OF OCCURRENCE Total firearm deaths aggregated for the 16-year period showed a largely uniform distribution by month, with approximately 8% of deaths occurring in each month. (For meaningful comparison, number of deaths have been adjusted to 30 day months). However, the proportion of deaths was slightly lower from April to July, and slightly higher proportions were recorded from September to March. This reflects the pattern of firearm suicides, which are the major component of firearm deaths. For firearm accidents and firearm homicides the monthly variations were less clear. Such variations were largely random, and the percentage of deaths fluctuated erratically across calendar months. However, a slightly higher percentage of firearm homicides (11.5%) and firearm accident deaths (10.1%) occurred in December than in other months. Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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