Gun Violence In Rural America Rises When Deer Hunting Season Begins

Is there an association between the opening of deer hunting season and shootings in rural counties in the United States?

© by GrrlScientist for Forbes | LinkTr.ee

The old proverb derived from the biblical book of Matthew, “Live by the sword, die by the sword” is predictive of our fraught relationship with guns and animals, particularly with wildlife.

A new study warns that throughout rural America, the increased presence of loaded and unlocked guns in homes and vehicles when deer hunting season opens is likely contributing to an increase in gun injuries and homicides.

“[M]ore people were killed by gunfire in the first week of deer hunting season than in any other week of the calendar year,” according to the lead author of the study, urban sociologist and criminologist Patrick Sharkey, who is the William S. Tod Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Professor Sharkey’s research focuses on urban inequality, violence, and public policy.

As part of this study, Professor Sharkey and collaborators factored out gun deaths linked to hunting accidents, which were exceedingly rare to begin with. Instead, they found that the availability of unlocked and loaded guns were linked to the greater risk for gun…