Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

3-4-2018

SSRN Discipline

PSN Subject Matter eJournals; Industrial Organization & Regulation eJournals; Experimental & Empirical Studies eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence & Legal Philosophy eJournals; ERN Subject Matter eJournals; Health Economics Network; Economics Research Network; Legal Scholarship Network; Public Choice & Political Economy eJournals; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Law & Society eJournals; Law & Society: Public Law eJournals; Political Science Network; Health Law eJournals; Political Economy - Development eJournals

Abstract

Both sides of the contentious debate over firearm regulation agree that some people with mental illness should be prohibited from purchasing firearms This consensus exists despite limited empirical support Such support will be essential to courts deciding the prohibition's constitutionality We assess the impact on homicide and suicide of states reporting mental health records to the national firearm background check system Using panel data and a differenceindifferences methodology we find that upon adding mental health records to the national system states experienced a 3343 decrease in firearmrelated suicides with no evidence of substitution to nonfirearm suicides Our findings suggest that mental health restrictions on gun sales do effectively reduce suicide but not homicide

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