High rates of gun mortality and injury are often cited as a primary impetus for gun control policies.[23][page needed] The question of whether gun control policies increase,decrease or have no effect on rates of gun violence turns out to be a difficult question.
A number of studies have examined the correlation between rates of gun ownership and gun-related,as well as overall,homicide and suicide rates internationally.Martin Killias,in a 1993 study covering 21 countries,found that there were significant correlations between gun ownership and gun-related suicide and homicide rates.There was also a significant though lesser correlation between gun ownership and total homicide rates A later study published by Killias et al.in 2001,based on a larger sample of countries found "very strong correlations between the presence of guns in the home and suicide committed with a gun,rates of gun-related homicide involving female victims,and gun-related assault." The authors suggest that the correlation between the presence of guns in the home and suicide and homicide of females is best explained as causal,i.e.the presence of guns is the cause of the mortality and not the reverse.The study found no correlation for similar crimes against men,total rates of assault or for robbery,however,the authors note that the relationship between availability of guns and male homicide is complex,and the data may be affected by wars,organized crime,street crime and crime rates among various countries.They also note that,"the absence of significant correlations between gun ownership and total homicide,assault,or suicide rates...[leaves] open the question of possible substitution effects." (In other words,other means could have been substituted for firearms used in the commission of homicide or suicide.)
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