Firearm-related deaths--Louisiana and Texas, 1970-1990

In 1990, firearm-related injuries surpassed motor-vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death from injuries in both Louisiana and Texas, and from 1979 through 1987, these states ranked third and fifth, respectively, for age-adjusted firearm-related death rates. Because firearm-related injuries are a major cause of death in Louisiana and Texas, the Louisiana Disability Prevention Program, Louisiana Office of Public Health, and the Injury Control Program, Epidemiology Division, Texas Department of Health, used death certificates to examine patterns in firearm-related mortality. This report summarizes the analysis of death certificate data for firearm-related mortality in these two states.