Surprising fact: Half of gun deaths are suicides

[Cwood]

Heres an intresting read.....

Half of gun deaths are suicides - Life - MSNBC.com

 

[indyjoe]

Wish we had statistics of the number of firearms suicides that would have happened anyway through other means, if a firearm wasn't available. The guns didn't kill their owners, they were just tools.

 

[Pami]

The American Public Health Association, the American Association of Suicidology and two other groups filed a legal brief supporting the district's ban. The brief challenged arguments that if a gun is not available, suicidal people will just kill themselves using other means.

More than 90 percent of suicide attempts using guns are successful, while the success rate for jumping from high places was 34 percent. The success rate for drug overdose was 2 percent, the brief said, citing studies.

"Other methods are not as lethal," said Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore.

Other methods of attempted suicide are not as lethal.... I wonder how many suicides by gunshots were for people who had made previous attempts and failed. ... which brings a question.. how depressing would that be? Many suicidal people are that way because they think they're failing at life... and if they fail to succeed at killing themselves, then they fail at that, too... no wonder treatment for that deep of a depression is so difficult.

(And please don't think I'm making toooo light of this; I've had two very close family members who were dangerously suicidal and have thankfully realized how misguided they were.)

 

[epsylum]

Other methods of attempted suicide are not as lethal.... I wonder how many suicides by gunshots were for people who had made previous attempts and failed. ... which brings a question.. how depressing would that be? Many suicidal people are that way because they think they're failing at life... and if they fail to succeed at killing themselves, then they fail at that, too... no wonder treatment for that deep of a depression is so difficult.

(And please don't think I'm making toooo light of this; I've had two very close family members who were dangerously suicidal and have thankfully realized how misguided they were.)

Usually the failed suicide attempts are on purpose as the person is just trying to get attention. There are plenty of very final methods of suicide.

-hanging (once things start to fade it is all over)
-jumping off a building/bridge (not the "i'm going to jump" crap, the ones that just do it)
-injecting/drinking/eating poison and NOT calling 911/asking for help

etc.

My point is, that if someone REALLY wants to kill themselves, they can and will with or without a gun.

 

[jontheturboguy]

Id like to know how many suicides via automobile there are a year....

 

[haldir]

I thought the libs were all for allowing people to commit suicide. Remember how they defended their buddy Dr. Death, Jack Kevorkian.

 

[Dogman]

If there's a gun involved and someone dies or is hurt, it's the guns fault. It doesn't matter that someone choose to use the gun, it's the guns fault.

 

[Santee]

The Japanese use various methods in a society that has outlawed the gun, some use a mixture of common household chemicals that creates a toxic gas, lethal to the one doing it and to anyone who happens to come where they are. Suicide rates per 100,000 population: U.S. - 11.05 Japan - 24

More than 32,000 suicides occurred in the U.S. This is the equivalent of 89 suicides per day; one suicide every 16 minutes or 11.05 suicides per 100,000 population (CDC 2005).

2005 marked the eighth consecutive year that suicides in Japan topped 30,000 people, as well as the eighth consecutive year that the suicide rate exceeded 24 per 100,000 (CDC 2005).

 

[Bill of Rights]

I thought the libs were all for allowing people to commit suicide. Remember how they defended their buddy Dr. Death, Jack Kevorkian.

Some of us conservatives (more properly libertarians) defend his actions, too. If someone chooses to end his or her life, the only reason for passing a law against it is so that the insurance has a justification for not paying the claim.

Your life belongs to you and you alone, here on earth. My personal belief is that my soul and spirit belong to God, but I don't try to force that belief onto someone else's life.

Blessings,
B