Another forum's thread about suicide with a gun

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hopelessjoe

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I was drawn in to another forum's thread about suicide with a gun.

The original post was concerning a man who killed himself without any apparent warning.

I am curious about how the thought of suicide by firearm is viewed here (I do not expect a positive reaction!) because it is a reality and it will continue until there are no more firearms in existance.

I suppose that I will be feeding the flames when I admit that I have considered that my gun may very well be my best friend if my tolerance for pain has been surpassed someday.

Comments???
 
Simple fact of the matter is, suicide is not a byproduct of the availability of firearms. Its a cultural, social, and psychological issue that operates independent of the means used in the commission of suicide.

In other words, a person who wants to commit suicide will do it whether there are firearms in the world or not. Just look at Japan, which has a virtual ban on firearms and one of the highest suicide rates in the world. When trying to compare gun ownership patterns with suicide rates, the best that can be said is there is no pattern, as one has nothing to do with the other.

As for the moral issues involved in suicide, I don't believe that's a topic that is appropriate for this forum, as it gets into such things as religion and politics, which are not allowed topics of discussion here. www.armedpolitesociety.com would be a better place for that discussion (its the sister site to THR, made specifically for political and non-gun related topics).
 
When people decide to kill themselves they use whatever method is available. If it's a gun they will shoot themselves, if it's pills they will OD, if it's a rope they will hang themselves, if it's a bridge they will jump, etc.
 
Even if the only way to kill one's self was with a firearm, I'd still be against restriction.

If someone wants to end himself, it's his choice. It's the "kill everyone else and then me" people who bother me.

Of course, the answer to that is more guns. So I still see no bearing on firearm restriction.

As far as your gun being your "best friend" when it comes to suicide, I would offer that it would actually be a rather untrustworthy friend, one to be abandoned in favor of a very high ledge.

(NOT telling the OP to off himself, just stating that there are much better, more efficient ways.)
 
As far as your gun being your "best friend" when it comes to suicide, I would offer that it would actually be a rather untrustworthy friend
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Yea just ask this dingbat.

Link to Boston.com Article
BURLINGTON, Vt. - A man accused of killing two people and wounding two others in shootings in 2006 has agreed to enter a plea and will not go to trial on the charges, officials said yesterday.
Williams shot himself in the head twice but survived.
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... I have considered that my gun may very well be my best friend if my tolerance for pain has been surpassed someday.
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I'm sure there's lots of people on this board that would be lying if they didn't agree with a statement of "been there." Bad days happen, bad weeks happen, hell even whole months can be rough. But anyone agreeing with the "been there" statement must also agree with the statement "and I made it out alive" or they wouldn't be agreeing with anything... Whatever you do, keep living.

Anyway, firearms certainly are a tool. But people with a gun nearby have also opted for a knife. People with closets full of guns and drawers full of blades have opted for pills. People with access to pills have sought out firearms to use. To me there seems to be little to no correlation between the tool and the rates in a population as a whole. Those feeling like it's their time to go will seek out the method which they feel is the easiest and/or most painless.

And the rest of us are always left with lots of questions. Depression is so insidious because it is so hard to "see." A rash on someone's arm can lead you to say "hey, you should see a doctor, get that checked out." But unless you're a mind reader, lotsa luck noticing if someone is depressed. I think many people who are don't even realize it themselves until it's too late.
 
My mother always told me suicide was a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
So with that in mind there is no justification to take one's life if you are as you should be.
 
(NOT telling the OP to off himself, just stating that there are much better, more efficient ways.)
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Well, gee, thanks! I am only in my young thirties.

Besides, I would be willing to bet that a .357mag to the brain is pretty effective.

If you you are looking for a fabulous bridge to jump from, I would suggest the Royal Gorge Bridge. 1000 feet to a river. It will do the trick. It makes a fantansic vaction in Colorado.

Did you actally think I was looking for a suitable excuse to kill myself?
 
My mother always told me suicide was a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
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Good quote, I'll remember that one!

There's no shortage of ways people can off themselves, tall buildings, bridges, heck even a regular kitchen knife would work if someone really wanted to go that badly.
I think people choose guns because it would be quick and require less thought into the matter. I've never understood suicide and never would consider it, that is unless I was that guy at the end of the movie The Mist, I would have offed myself if I were in his shoes:banghead:

My only experience with suicide was a long time ago my best friend's dad shot himself in the woods behind his house when we were teenagers. It really screwed up my friend a lot as you can imagine but it didn't have much effect on his interest in firearms at all. I think he saw the gun as simply a tool that his dad used to end his life, it wasn't the gun that was responsible it was the decision made by the person. He even mentioned to me at one time that he wanted to inherit his father's extensive gun collection but was afraid he wouldn't get it because he was only 15 at the time. Not sure if he ever did I lost track with him after high school. The way I see it guns don't kill people, people kill people and that's true with suicide as well.
 
My mother always told me suicide was a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
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It's not always black and white. My uncle has terminal cancer. He has lost control of his faculties below his waist and can't walk. He has wasted away to a point that you wouldn't recognize him from a year ago. He is in pain to the point that he was on an IV drip of morphine and had a bottle of Oxycontin the size of a mayonnaise jar. They took it away and have a nurse come and give him injections several times a day, so he can't overdose himself. He can't move without causing himself shooting pain from his back down his legs. He has a tumor wrapped around his spinal cord that is causing the loss of control, paralysis, and pain. He also has many brain tumors that will likely be what kills him. And they would rather have him suffer than kill himself. And if anyone were to do anything to assist him they would throw that person in jail.

A year ago he was the strongest man I had ever known.

But again, the gun isn't the cause. It's a last desperate "solution" as seen by the person using it. Regardless of the reason. The problem with suicide is much deeper than a gun being available. Otherwise there would be no gun owners as we would have all off'd ourselves. But the gun grabbers like to say that complex cultural and psychological problems are the fault of simple inanimate objects. And some people will eat it up since the solution appears to be simple, and they can pretend that the complex and almost impossible to solve problem doesn't exist.
 
My mother always told me suicide was a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
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Some problems are temporary, some are not.
Sometimes mothers are right, sometimes they are not.

So with that in mind there is no justification to take one's life if you are as you should be.
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Sometimes "you are as you should be."
Sometimes you are not.

Therefore . . . .
 
If 15 years in EMS has taught me anything, it is that when a person wants to end their own life, they will find a way to do it. Surprisingly, most suicides are very well thought out and planned. The person who does take their life may be in serious pain, whether emotional or physical, and this is seen as apermanent solution to the problem, whatever it may be.
Removing any item one may use to kill themselves is not the solution, and restricting access to guns is definitely not the answer. When someone truly wants to die, they are going to succeed, irregardless of the roadblocks placed in their way.
 
Suicides...

It's a fact that there are people out there who have lost hope and feel that suicide is a solution to everything. (Reminds me of that song by Ozzy/Randy Rhoads "Suicide Solution").

They've neglected that someone gave birth to them, neighbors' kids played with them and school classmates have studied with them. The worse part about suicide is not just the study of how it's committed but the impact it makes to family members, friends and overall community.

At the same token, drugs, peer pressure and mental deficiencies may play a factor and that's where professionals are available to assist.

But with 2008 just rolling in, it just shows that we must take care of our fellow man and be our brother's keeper. You never know who's life you change by a single smile or just listening to someone.

We can prevent it. The worst thing is to ignore it.
 
[thread veer]
It's a fact that there are people out there who have lost hope and feel that suicide is a solution to everything. (Reminds me of that song by Ozzy/Randy Rhoads "Suicide Solution").
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Small nit pick, the word "Solution" in Suicide Solution means liquid (like a cleaning solution), not "solving a problem".

The song is not saying that Suicide is a solution to your problems, its saying that Alcohol is a solution (liquid) the abuse of which will end up killing you.
[/thread veer]
 
Did you actally think I was looking for a suitable excuse to kill myself?
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How is an efficient method a 'suitable excuse'? You brought up the topic of suicide, and guns as tool for that end. Knowing several people in the field of medicine, I've heard many, many tales of firearm suicides gone wrong.

I think suicide is one the most idiotic, selfish things a person can do. It is VERY RARELY a truly viable solution. However, if one chooses to end his life, that's his choice, and I wouldn't want him to end up a quadriplegic or vegetable instead.
 
Why lock the thread? Because it is taboo?
My opinion is probably frowned upon. I believe that a man (in a non gender specific sense) ought to be able to decide at the very least when he wants to die. So if Joe decides that he's done, he's going to cash in tonight after dinner, then that's his choice and a respectable one at that.

Family members and friends ought not to demean his actions by suggesting that the deceased was lured to death by an inanimate object - whether it be a gun, noose, or dull kitchen knife.

My only suggestion to those who would commit suicide is to please try to reduce the amount of mess you are, without doubt, leaving behind. This last comment is NOT intended to be callous, although it may seem so. It's one thing to OD in the bathtub. It's another to go out "by police" or blow one's brains out at the kitchen table. I've seen both.

A year ago, a member here at THR killed himself. I spoke to him briefly about a rifle we both liked, the FN49. I didn't know he was terribly depressed since he sounded very excited in his postings, like a kid in a store. Well, he went out to the beach and shot himself in the head with the same Mak that he had posted excitedly about a few weeks before. I like to think that he chose the beach because it was a safe place (no stray shots to hit roommates), because it would be easy to clean up, and because dying there wouldn't traumatize his friends by leaving behind the pallor of death in the dormitory. I like to think that he tried his best to be good to everyone, and if he knew of a better way to commit suicide than using a gun, I'm sure he would have done that too. I regret his decision, but I respect it. If I get a chance to speak to his family one day, I'll offer to buy his guns - not because I want a deal, but because I want to make sure that the FN49 that we talked about will be taken care of.

On the other hand, in september my friend's brother in law, 22yro, hanged himself off his back porch. they all live together, and Ish had to cut the body down himself. They had to move out RIGHT AWAY, the family cried for weeks, and to this day everyone is still in therapy.

Do you see my point, although you might not agree with it?
 
Three people at my work killed themselves. One was over a woman:rolleyes:and decided to hang himself like his older brother did years ago. He was 45 years old. The other two was with a pistol. The first was VERY depressed and also over a woman. The second was a complete shock. She had heart trouble, but nothing that couldn't be resolved with medication. She was married with a young daughter. She loved life even after she found out she had minor heart problems. It was AFTER the docs gave her different medications that she did this. Makes you wonder......
 
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