Suicide by firearm, a unique pattern from Iran.

Throughout the one-year period from March 21, 2002 to March 21, 2003, the Legal Medicine Organization of Iran in Tehran investigated 27 firearms suicides. The crude mortality rate from firearms suicides was about 0.21 per 100,000 (the rate of suicide in Tehran is around 9.8 per 100,000).All of the victims were young males. Military rifles were responsible for the majority of the suicides. The most common sites of entrance wounds were the submentum (37%) and chest (25.9%). In 84.6% of the cases gunshots were fired from contact or near contact range. With the exception of 1 of the suicides, all were committed at either garrisons or police stations. The unique pattern of suicides found in this series is discussed in the context of availability of method.