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The Effects of Waiting Periods on Firearm Suicides in the U.S.

Waiting Periods
Suicides
Firearm Suicides
Policy Evaluation
Mental Health
Difference-in-differences

Hussain Hadah and Gael Compta, “The Effects of Waiting Periods on Firearm Suicides in the U.S.”

Authors
Affiliation

Hussain Hadah

Tulane University

Gael Compta

Tulane University

Other details

Presented at the Defense Resources Management Institute (DRMI) in 2025, the American Society of Health Economists Annual Conference in Nashville in 2025, the Southern Economic Association Conference in Washington, D.C. in 2024, the University of Houston’s Applied Micro Lunch Seminar, the Murphy Institute Health Seminar in 2023, and the Southern Economic Association Annual Meeting in 2021.

Abstract

Suicide is often an impulsive act, and in the United States, nearly one-half of suicides involve a firearm, the most lethal and readily available method. In this paper, we use recent developments in difference-in-differences methodology to study the causal effect of waiting-period laws on firearm suicides. We find that waiting periods reduce firearm suicides among men by 1.5 deaths per 100,000 population, an 11% decrease from baseline. For white individuals, we observe a statistically significant reduction of 37.5 deaths per 100,000, a 37% decrease. For adults aged 55 and older, we find a reduction of 25 deaths per 100,000, representing a 40% decrease. For the overall population, we find a statistically significant reduction of 0.92 deaths per 100,000, a 12% decrease from baseline. Crucially, we find no evidence of substitution toward non-firearm suicide methods following waiting period adoption; among men, adults 55 and older, and white individuals, we find significant decreases in non-firearm suicides. We also examine the effects of waiting period repeal and find statistically significant increases in firearm suicides. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest waiting periods prevented approximately 3,000 firearm suicide deaths annually, yielding social benefits of roughly $41 billion. Our findings show that even brief delays in firearm access can disrupt the pathway from suicidal ideation to death, suggesting that cooling-off periods may be an important policy tool for suicide prevention.

Important Figures

Figure 1: State-level variation in waiting period policies

Figure 2: The causal effects of waiting periods on firearms suicides

Figure 3: The causal effects of waiting periods on firearms suicides among men

Figure 4: The causal effects of waiting periods on firearms suicides among individuals aged 55+

Figure 5: The causal effects of waiting periods on firearms suicides among white individuals

Citation

Hadah, Hussain, and Gael Compta. The Effects of Waiting Periods on Firearm Suicides in the U.S. Working paper, Tulane University, 2025. Available at https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5383500.

@misc{HadahCompta2025WaitingPeriods,
  title        = {The Effects of Waiting Periods on Firearm Suicides in the U.S.},
  author       = {Hadah, Hussain and Compta, Gael},
  year         = {2025},
  month        = dec,
  note         = {Working paper}
}