Women in homes with handguns are at 50% higher risk for suicide, study finds “The question we tried to address is what happens to a woman’s suicide risk when someone she lives with brings a handgun into their gun-free home for the first time. The answer: her chances of dying by suicide increases by more than 40%,” Dr. Matthew Miller, a professor of epidemiology at Northeastern University and the lead author of the study said in a press release.