Wednesday, September 16, 2015

More on the Suicide Problem and the Role of Gun Availability

The New York Times

If it takes a sensational statistic to spur national concern about such self-destruction, consider the latest research showing that 82 percent of teenage suicides by firearms involve guns left poorly secured or foolishly unprotected by members of their families. These young lives are impulsively lost in supposedly safe home environments, where just the presence of a gun has been found to increase the risk of suicide three times, according to a new report by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun safety organization.

The report also notes that 85 percent of people attempting suicide by gun succeed, while drug overdose, the main method chosen for suicide attempts, is fatal only 2 percent of the time. Ninety percent of those who fail in a suicide attempt embrace their second chance at life and do not eventually die by suicide.

There is stark evidence that easy access to guns compounds the crisis. The states with the five highest rates of gun suicides have gun ownership rates notably higher than the national average, according to the Brady study. Meanwhile, the gun lobby and firearm industry are engaged in a reckless campaign to have more Americans own and carry guns.

4 comments:

  1. One good thing that comes out of gun control groups beating the suicide drum is that they expose themselves as being against gun ownership period. I already knew this, but maybe there are some stragglers out there who still believe they only want "reasonable common sense" gun laws.

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  2. The right to die is the right to die...we may not agree with the choices others make for themselves but its their choice to make ......whether they have a physical illness a mental one or just don't want to deal with the BS life throws at them anymore its their right to choose what they want.

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    1. You see, gun loons don't care about preventable death and in fact root for these suicides. Got any children GJ? This is your advice to troubled teenagers, just go ahead and kill yourself. You are truly a sick (mentally ill) person

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