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Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among persons aged 18 to 20 years in the U.S., and firearms are the leading mechanism of death for this age group. A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health looked at the impact of minimum handgun purchase age and background check legislation on young adult suicide in the United States between 1991 and 2020.

“We were interested in examining whether the impact of state laws raising the minimum age to purchase handguns on young adult suicides depends on background check legislation,” study author Emma E. Fridel told us. “Under federal law, persons must be at least 21 to purchase a handgun from a licensed dealer, so state minimum age laws only apply to private sales. However, under federal law, private sellers are not required to conduct background checks (in this case, to verify age), meaning that states must enforce their minimum age purchasing laws by passing universal background checks at point of sale or via a permit to purchase.” 

The research team hypothesized that the effect of state minimum purchasing age laws on young adult suicide rates would be contingent on background check legislation.

They used a quasi-experimental approach to examine the joint and independent effects of state minimum age and background check laws on young adult suicides by firearm, other methods, and in totality in the U.S. from 1991 to 2020. 

“We found that minimum age laws modestly decreased the incidence rate of young adult firearm suicide, an effect that was amplified in states with permit to purchase laws,”  Fridel told us. “There was no effect on non-firearm or total suicides. Permit to purchase laws had a much stronger impact, reducing the incidence rate of young adult firearm suicide by nearly 40% and total suicide by 14%.” 

The results were largely consistent with prior research and the team’s hypotheses. 

“It is possible, however, that minimum age legislation has a larger effect than they were able to detect due to study limitations,” Fridel told us. “Permit to purchase laws represent a promising avenue for reducing young adult suicides”