%0 Journal Article %A Michael Siegel %A Craig S Ross %A Charles King %T Examining the relationship between the prevalence of guns and homicide rates in the USA using a new and improved state-level gun ownership proxy %D 2014 %R 10.1136/injuryprev-2014-041187 %J Injury Prevention %P 424-426 %V 20 %N 6 %X Determining the relationship between gun ownership levels and firearm homicide rates is critical to inform public health policy. Previous research has shown that state-level gun ownership, as measured by a widely used proxy, is positively associated with firearm homicide rates. A newly developed proxy measure that incorporates the hunting license rate in addition to the proportion of firearm suicides correlates more highly with state-level gun ownership. To corroborate previous research, we used this new proxy to estimate the association of state-level gun ownership with total, firearm, and non-firearm homicides. Using state-specific data for the years 1981–2010, we modelled these rates as a function of gun ownership level, controlling for potential confounding factors. We used a negative binomial regression model and accounted for clustering of observations among states. We found that state-level gun ownership as measured by the new proxy, is significantly associated with firearm and total homicides but not with non-firearm homicides. %U https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/injuryprev/20/6/424.full.pdf