The data were gathered from coroner/medical examiner (C/ME) records; police reports; death certificates; toxicology laboratories; crime laboratories; and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) firearm trace reports. Information on acute alcohol use was based on toxicological analyses of decedents as part of the C/ME investigation. Suicide decedents were identified using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes X60–X84 or Y87.0 [14]. Pooled 2003–2011 NVDRS data yielded 82,519 suicide decedents (Figure 1). A detailed description of the sample characteristics appears elsewhere [8, 9, 15]. The Human Subjects Review Committee at Portland State University approved this study.
