Table 1

Mean preintervention (1999–2014) characteristics of Wisconsin, its synthetic controls and the donor pool used to construct counterfactual handgun and firearm suicide rates

VariableWisconsinSynthetic WISample mean
Handgun suicide analysis
Population5 575 7416 225 24014 264 826
Population density102.95396.617144.857
Proportion of population MSA0.7160.7150.78
Proportion Black0.0660.0680.078
Proportion white0.90.8860.851
Unemployment rate5.6245.2025.951
Poverty rate10.4699.65811.191
Mean individual income36 406.5638 778.1738 989.44
Educational attainment89.08890.27187.303
Ethanol consumption2.3751.9431.879
Ratio of FS:S0.4790.4620.444
2014 demeaned HS rate0.3640.4490.226
Firearm suicide analysis
Population5 575 7413 610 6689 216 740
Population density102.953284.37445.722
Proportion of population MSA0.7160.7350.848
Proportion Black0.0660.0510.108
Proportion white0.90.9070.75
Unemployment rate5.6245.2545.864
Poverty rate10.4699.61910.578
Mean individual income36 406.5638 376.5240 724.31
Educational attainment89.08889.26487.065
Ethanol consumption2.3751.9661.899
Ratio of FS:S0.4790.4310.375
2014 demeaned FS rate0.1360.2490.194
  • Abbreviations: WI, Wisconsin; MSA, metropolitan statistical area; FS, firearm suicide; S, suicide; HS, handgun suicide.