Aims: To identify the role of firearms as a public health issue in New Zealand and to consider this information in the context of international research on potentially effective interventions for the prevention of firearm deaths.
Methods: National data on firearm related mortality for the period 1978 to 1987 were abstracted to identify all firearm deaths categorised as unintentional, suicide, homicide and of undetermined intent.
Results: Over this 10 year period, there were an average of 91 firearm deaths annually, accounting for 0.3% of all deaths. Suicides accounted for 75.5% of these deaths, unintentional deaths for 11.6% and homicides for 10.6%. No significant temporal changes were observed.
Conclusions: While deaths from firearms are not a major public health problem in New Zealand, there is still a need to identify strategies likely to lead to reductions in the current levels of firearm deaths. Appropriately targeted legislative and educational strategies may be effective in reducing such deaths.