Dr Lucy Telfar-Barnard from the Otago University department of public health Photo: Supplied
An Otago University researcher says firearms deaths are estimated to have cost the country up to $321 million per year.
A new study shows more than 1000 people died and 2115 people were hospitalised, as a result of firearms incidents between 2000-18.
Lead researcher Dr Lucy Telfar-Barnard from the university's department of public health said the study - instigated after the Christchurch mosque shootings - was designed to illuminate a missing piece of the discussion about the impact of firearms in New Zealand.
"I could see that there had been research done into some aspects of harm, but there was no comprehensive picture of what that firearm harm looked like across New Zealand," Telfar-Barnard said. "In particular, we didn't know who was more at risk or what hospitalisations looked like."
The research investigated firearms-related hospitalisations, and deaths from assaults, accidents and suicide.
It showed the total cost of hospital care during the 19-year period was $28.2m, but estimations - using the 'Years of Life Lost' measure - showed the costs of the deaths went far beyond the injury costs, reaching up to $321m per year.
The research did not include the 2019 mass shooting at two Christchurch mosques, which resulted in the deaths of 51 people.
Telfar-Barnard said imposing a cost analysis on deaths and injuries only told part of the story of the impact of firearms harm.
"The idea of putting a value on a life is always a little bit odd," she said. "We know that we do in health economics - we kind of have to - for various reasons.
"NZTA produce the value of a statistical life and then we have a formula from that. Then you can say, if someone dies 20-30 years earlier than usual, we ascribe a value to that in dollar terms, but I don't know if that fully captures what you lose when someone dies."
Eighty-hundred-and-nineteen of the deaths canvassed were self harm, while 147 occurred from assaults. Another 48 deaths were ruled accidental.
Most of the fatalities were men, with mortality rates highest in those of European ethnicity, followed by Māori.
Māori had three times the chance of being victims of firearms homicides, compared to their European counterparts, and Māori and Pacific peoples were 2-3 times more likely to be hospitalised, as a result of assault with a firearm.
Hospitalisation rates were highest in rural settlements and lowest in small urban areas.
Last year, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee said the Arms Act would be rewritten by 2026.
Telfar-Barnard said the study was instigated before the review being announced, but she hoped its findings would be used to inform the process.
"It has turned out to be timely," she said. "We know that, with firearms harm, you need lots of different ways of preventing that harm and - with the review - considering all the different ways that you might put things in place to reduce that harm is really important.
"We talk about the need for improved and targeted education, particularly for people in rural areas. There are a range of things that can be done, and we hope that this evidence will contribute to retaining and strengthening regulation and general programmes to reduce firearms harm."
Telfar-Barnard said, after changes to the Arms Act in 1992, the country saw a reduction in fatal self-harm incidents, where firearms were present.
"Before then, people could get lifetime licences for a firearm. They introduced the fit-and-proper tests, they introduced storage requirements for firearms and for ammunition, and then there was stronger restrictions on those assault rifles and pistols, so there was a whole suite of things that were brought in.
"The more things that you can do to create steps in between that moment of impulsive thought and the point at which they're actually able to carry that out, the more chance you have that they'll think better of it and not go ahead with it," Telfar-Barnard said.
She said, in the United States, firearms were the leading cause of death of people under 18.
"We don't have that in New Zealand and it's really important that we don't get there either, so maintaining a culture where firearms are seen as a tool for specific circumstances - that has a really strong set of regulations and harm prevention strategies around it - is really important."
The research findings have been published in the international journal, the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
