City Council Agenda and Packet 2022 06 07

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percent lower risk of self-inflicted firearm injuries and an 85 percent lower risk of unintentional firearm injuries among children, compared to those that locked neither; and WHEREAS, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine of more than 26 million California residents found that women who own a handgun are 35 times more likely to die by firearm suicide than women who do not own one. Men who own a handgun are nearly 8 times more likely to die by firearm suicide than men who do not own a handgun. The study also found that the risk of firearm suicide is most pronounced in the year following a person's first acquisition of a handgun but remains elevated for at least 12 years thereafter; and WHEREAS, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that in King County, Washington, using data from 2011 to 2018, for every self-defense homicide, there were 44 suicides, seven criminal homicides, and one unintentional death; and WHEREAS, research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that only 15 percent of Americans believe that having a firearm in the home increases the risk of suicide, and fewer than 10 percent of gun owners with children believe that household firearms increase suicide risk; and WHEREAS, research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that nearly six -in -ten (57.6 percent) gun owners believe that a firearm makes their home safer, while only 2.5 percent believe that guns make their home more dangerous. The same study found that nearly four -in -ten (39.2 percent) gun owners who believe that guns increase safety store their household firearm(s) loaded and unlocked; and WHEREAS, research published in Injury Prevention found that people living in households with firearms misperceive their risk of firearm injury as compared to people living in households without firearms. Firearms owners, and non -owners living with firearm owners, are 60 percent and 46 percent (respectively) less likely to worry about firearm injury as compared to respondents without guns in the home, despite evidence that firearm access in the home is a strong risk factor for firearm injury; and WHEREAS, a report by the Pew Research Center on Americans' attitudes towards firearms found that three quarters (75 percent) of American gun owners say they feel safer with a gun in their household than they would without a gun. The same study found that two-thirds (67 percent) of gun owners cite protection as a major reason for owning a gun; and WHEREAS, a study published in the Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences found that almost two out of three -gun owners (63 percent) report that a primary reason they own their gun is for protection against people. Among handgun owners, more than three quarters (76 percent) cite protection against people as a major reason for owning their firearm(s); and Ordinance No. 1834, Series 2022 Page 2 of 6 33