Researchers say that all of this evidence taken together rebuts the idea that having a handgun makes homeowners safer.

“Despite widespread perceptions that a gun in the home makes its inhabitants safer, rigorous studies have been nearly unanimous in finding that people who live in homes with guns are at higher risk of dying violent deaths, whether by homicide, suicide, or in accidents,” said David Studdert, co-author and a professor of health policy and law at Stanford. “And sorting out exactly who in these homes faces elevated risks and estimating the size of those risks is vitally important.”