Surprising fact: Half of gun deaths are suicides

[gym]

It's on the comcast.net homepage also

 

[Zoogster]

Suicide will be achieved by anyone that desires it enough. Those that fail many attempts are usualy looking more for attention and not trying really hard (they some of them still accidentaly succeed.)

I personaly think it is better a person commits suicide in a way that poses minimal risk to others, than someone that does not care to live is wandering about our society or chooses a method that places others in danger or takes others along.

Now obviously it would be better if they change thier mind before it happens and realize we all die anyways, no need to rush it, but if that is not the case it poses a danger to many innocent people.

Do you really want people that don't care about living on the road with you or loved ones for example?
Sounds like someone that might really enjoy a good game of chicken.

For example here is a car chase where a guy decides to kill himself. Notice he aims right for the oncoming car, and even corrects to make sure he hits head on when the other car attempts to move out of the way.
It was suicide by head on collision. The innocent person he randomly chose to crash into died at the scene along with him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR9V6bOjxJQ

It would have been better if he had used the firearm.

 

[GigaBuist]

how do you fail to kill yourself with a gun???

It's not unheard of. Some folks that have committed suicide had to shoot themselves in the head a couple of times. Heck, guy that lived 'round the corner from where I grew up failed to pull it off with a shotgun.

Basically large portions of your brain aren't required to keep you alive. Rough guess you need about a fist sized chunk of it at the back of your head to keep yourself going. The stuff up in the front is pretty optional. if you tried shooting yourself in the temple you'd basically be giving yourself a really messy lobotomy. You'll probably be dumber and slower to anger, but you'll probably live if you don't bleed out.

Heck, you might even get elected to Congress!

 

[Zoogster]

how do you fail to kill yourself with a gun???

I remember one incident where the person shot themselves, was heard making a muffled scream before a second shot rang out. (They were alone.)

Some people have also survived gunshot wounds even to the head, sometimes fine, and other times becoming a vegetable or living as a mentaly handicapped individual afterwards due to brain damage.

The same thing has happened to many that have tried to kill themselves with poison or carbon monoxide. They simply severely damage thier brain, but live and become an invalid.
The same thing can also happen to people that try to commit suicide by loss of blood. The brain gets starved for oxygen and portions die. They are then revived and recieve blood by medical personel only to never fully recover, and have permanent brain damage.

The brain starts to die in many situations long before the body is beyond repair. So a person revived can be much worse off than before.

 

[Tommygunn]

It is probably the case that if there were less guns, there would be less suicides. There would just be a lot more suicide attempts with pills would be my guess.

I wish I could remember where I read it, but atleast one study indicated that where guns have been banned, in the year or so afterward, the suicide rate does drop, but after that, the rate goes up, and increases beyond even the original rate for awhile, then retreats to the original base level. The author of the article said that it was as though the people who were denied firearms would at first avoid it, but eventually would learn there are other ways of commiting the act, and "make up for the deficit," so to say. He opined that denying RKBA doesn't really effect suicides much in the long run because it doesn't treat the underlying causes for the act ... which seems a quite reasonable conclusion to me.

 

[Crunker1337]

It's an unfortunate fact. But gun control won't stop it at all, because the last time I checked, most Americans have access to knives.

 

[TallPine]

how do you fail to kill yourself with a gun???

A guy that I used to work with shot himself in the chest with a .357 mag. Missed his heart but got a lung and his spinal cord

The afternoon before the night he did it, he seemed fine and happy. It was his day off and he came by to show us the adapter that he had just got to fit a new engine into his Jeep pickup.

I dunno what his problem was - something about a girl compounded by alcohol, I think - but I don't think it was much better for him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life

(i hope somebody on here doesn't recognize this tale ...)

 

[JackW]

These stories always remind me of an exchange on "All in the Family"

Gloria: Do you know that sixty percent of all deaths in America are caused by guns?
Archie Bunker: Would it make you feel any better, little girl, if they was pushed out of windows?

 

[TexasRifleman]

I always love these things. This gem for example:

Public-health researchers have concluded that in homes where guns are present, the likelihood that someone in the home will die from suicide or homicide is much greater.

Is like saying "homes where chewing gum is present, the likelihood of someone chewing gum is much greater".

Brilliant. I need to get a job writing this stuff.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I suspect the data is misinterpreted. The data has to be examined to determine the validity of the figures.

 

[LWGN]

There are a number of other potentially confounding co-factors that could influence the chance of suicide or homicide in homes where guns are present. Prior military service, for example, would very likely be associated with a higher incidence of gun ownership AND a higher incidence of PTSD and depression, the latter two being genuine risk factors for suicide or homicide. Being the prior victim of domestic violence or violent crime in the home would almost certainly correlate positively with both gun ownership and homicide and suicide risk. Let's face it - people who have reason to fear for their lives or who have had reason to fear for their lives are more likely to own weapons than a similar population without such reasons. The guns in these instances are not the causative factor, and causation and correlation should not be confused. It is intellectually dishonest and BAD SCIENCE to look at the data in this fashion without adjusting for other significant risk factors that would predispose people at a high risk for suicide or homicide to own guns.

 

[Defensory]

[sarcasm]Ban the Golden Gate Bridge![/sarcasm]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Bridge#Suicides

 

[jackdanson]

But gun control won't stop it at all, because the last time I checked, most Americans have access to knives.

That's not true. I'm no anti, but guns make suicide easier/more effective. Knife suicides aren't as effective because people have a chance to change their mind or have someone stop them, which they often do once the blood get going.

When a family member in my home was going through some trouble I made sure to lock all my firearms up. My father and I were the only ones with keys. At that point in time I came to a logical conclusion that the risk of that person hurting themself substantially outweighed the chance of me needing a firearm for SD. I think this should be taken seriously by everyone on here. Sure, someone can use a knife, but the chances of them succeeding are far less. The only 2 people I know who have successfully committed suicide were gun collectors. Anecdotal, but still....

 

[Robert Hairless]

I'm no anti, but guns make suicide easier/more effective.

I'm no anti either, Jack, but guns do not make suicide easier/more effective no matter what you say. It's not that I intend to challenge your lack of expertise in the matter. I grant that. But I think I know a heck of a lot less than you do about this subject, so my opinion carries greater weight.

In fact authoritative research has proven beyond any possibility of doubt that all suicides are equally effective. When I interviewed my neighbor on this very subject he said, "Are you kidding me? Dead is dead. What kind of babble talks about 'more effective' deaths. Who are you hanging out with now?"

As for the claim that guns make suicide easier, another neighbor of mine said "Easier than what? Easier than taking poison, getting blown up in the World Trade Center, trying to make sense out of what's posted on the Internet, or winning Top Chef?"

The guy across the street from my house said, "So what? If suicides are indeed easier or more effective than sitting through 20 years of Jeremiah Wright sermons without hearing them, does that alter the meaning of the Second Amendment or the rest of the Constitution?"

His neighbor said, "Hey, guy. Although people who live in poverty or in a ghetto have a much lower literacy rate or educational level than others in the U.S., does that mean they should be denied the vote?"

So I got to thinking about this and the question that keeps coming to my mind is: "So what? Should all rights in the U.S.A. be tailored to discourage people from killing themselves? Or is it necessary to make them fit the craziness of people who are crazy enough to think that way--or smart enough to think that there are a lot of dumb people who might take this seriously?"

Now all of the above is anecdotal too, but you have to admit it sounds real good. Please don't argue with me. It would distress me if you did and you don't have the right to make me unhappy. Screw the First Amendment. Don't upset me.

 

[svtruth]

Is the suicide rate

among CCWrs higher than the norm?
I'll bet not.
Most of the homicides are felon on felon disputes over drug deals and perceived insults.
Many of the remaining ones are the result of domestic violence, very difficult to prevent/police.
Only a small minority of the homicides are cases where shooter and victim are unknown to each other.

 

[ilbob]

Don't people have a right to decide to end their own life?

If there is a right to kill a baby to be, there is certainly a right to kill yourself.

personally, I wish they would do it in a cleaner way.

 

[TexasRifleman]

I'm no anti, but guns make suicide easier/more effective.

So do idling cars and closed garage doors. I think we should ban those.

 

[VirginiaShooter]

I am not trying to be harsh, but any person who actually tries to commit suicide by jumping and fails at it is likely a very big idiot.

I have jumped from some fairly high places into water, and you get moving so fast it is unbelievable. The chances of surviving even a 6 story drop onto concrete have got to be very, very low. If you really wanted to be certain, just make it ten stories.

 

[JWarren]

Suicide....


We have to ban guns to prevent people do desire to die from doing so.


Pay attention to this stuff guys.


It is excellent proof of the world that many envision. We are talking about a world where you are UNABLE to do anything outside of their desires-- above your own desires.


Has anyone ever paid attention to the number of suicides that have occured on the Golden Gate Bridge? Or Niagra Falls?

From a show I watched a while back, a researcher stated that many people who choose to end life want to do it in a "meaningful" way-- and therefore use a "meaningful" location.


This has been my long-standing reasoning of why we MUST BAN the Golden Gate Bridge!!!!


-- John

 

[Unisaw]

I have no evidence whatsoever to support this suspicion, but I would be willing to bet that at least half of the people touting this "new" information that half of all gun deaths are suicides are at least somewhat supportive of the concept of physician-assisted suicide.

 

[Henry Bowman]

I don't think the author really cares about guns or suicide. The whole thing was an argument to support . . . more funding of "studies" with tax money.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Why do folks thing mental illness is a good justification for making laws covering the rest of society?

 

[jfh]

Well, Kudos to Henry Bowman and ZeSpectre for recognizing the 'real subject' of the article.

AFAICT from my own (pro-gun) perspective, "the statistics"--i.e., public reports from police, MEs, etc., etc. verify that about 50% of firearms deaths in the US are suicides.

That's a fact--there's no way to deny that.

However, the issue really becomes the use of such a fact--i.e., what's the point of publicizing it?

Similarly, the parallel arguments about alcohol, vehicular, or other significant causes of non-natural death are subject to the same critique.

So, relax, and try to live out your life by your own guidelines and avoid the public-health panderers.

Jim H.

 

[.cheese.]

I'd note that anybody who'd want to kill themselves or others, would probably find another way if they didn't have a gun.

I have about a dozen ways in my medicine cabinet, another dozen in the cleaning supplies and laundry room, another few in the garage, and then a bunch of creative ways like using exercise weight plates and the swimming pool, considering that the fourth of July is in 3 days I have another set of creative possibilities, the kitchen always has plenty of instruments to help somebody die of exsanguination, and on and on we go.

Having a gun is irrelevant. The only thing that stops me, and most Americans from killing themselves, is that I, along with most people, have no desire to die, and have plenty of reasons to live (like ice-cream and puppies!).

 

[3KillerBs]

#1. If those stats are true then suicides should be clearly separated from murder stats when discussing gun deaths in all contexts.

#2. Given the varying lethality of assorted methods of self-extermination, when discussing suicide attempts and successes should be treated as equivalent.

Both 1 and 2 would render the bare facts more meaningful in terms of defining problems and planning solutions.