Research Spotlight: Deer Hunting Season Linked to Rise in Non-Hunting Firearm Incidents

Christopher Worsham, MD, MPH, of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, is the lead author of a paper published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) “Firearm availability and firearm incidents: quasi-experimental analysis using start of US hunting seasons.” 

Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? 

Dr. Worsham: We wanted to study any changes in firearm incidents—both hunting-related and non-hunting-related—brought on by deer hunting season. We looked at four years’ worth of data across 10 states where hunting is popular. We found an unsurprising increase in hunting-related firearm incidents, but we also saw increases in the rates of non-hunting related firearm incidents, including those categorized as suicide, involving alcohol or other substances, domestic violence, home invasion or robberies, and defensive use; meanwhile, there were no changes in incidents involving police officers or children. 

Q: What question were you investigating? 

Dr. Worsham: An important question when it comes to firearm policy is whether having more guns present and available in the community leads to increased firearm incidents, but this question can be challenging to study.  

More guns are present in the community around the time deer hunting season begins, creating a "natural experiment." We can look at what happens when hunting seasons start across the country to figure out what impact firearm availability might have on the rate of overall firearm incidents.  

Q: What approach did you use? 

Dr. Worsham: We used an "event study" approach to estimate the average impact of a typical hunting season. To do this, we observed firearm incidents in the several weeks leading up to hunting season, the beginning of hunting season (when the most hunting takes place), and the subsequent several weeks over 40 hunting seasons combined (10 states x 4 years).  

Q: What did you find? 

Dr. Worsham: We saw an overall increase in firearm incidents of 12.3%. In addition to the unsurprising increase in hunting-related incidents, we also saw higher rates of other firearm incidents, including suicide (11.1% increase), incidents involving alcohol or other substances (87.5% increase), domestic violence (27.4% increase), home invasion or robberies (30.4% increase), and defensive use (27.8% increase). 

Q: What are the implications? 

Dr. Worsham: Our findings suggest that the beginning of deer hunting season carries risks to the community beyond hunting activities. Our study can't pinpoint the exact mechanism, but it's likely that the increased presence of firearms and ammunition in rural and metropolitan communities is playing a role. It's therefore critical to prepare for upcoming hunting seasons by extending the firearm safety practices that many hunters take very seriously to every setting when firearms are more present. 

Q: What are the next steps? 

Dr. Worsham: Future studies could examine the impact of specific interventions designed to improve firearm safety around hunting season or other situations where firearms may be more present.