BlackAsCoal
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- Oct 13, 2008
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Read it again.
We don't lead the world in suicides, which is the point I'm making. THe number of suicides has nothing to do with guns, except that suicides will use them if they're available. So if they're available, they're more likely to off themselves with them.
But if they aren't available, the rate of suicide doesn't go down.
And if they aren't available, the rate of gun violence increases instead of decreasing, EXCEPT in cases of DV. But once again, there is no marked reduction in the severity or occurence of DV just because guns aren't available.
Wrong on all counts ...
Guns and Suicide
The Harvard School of Mental Health just published the results of a study that examined the relationship between household firearms ownership and the rate of suicide. According to the study suicide among people 45 years of age and younger suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States. Among the 50 states in the United States, those with higher rates of household gun ownership had higher rates of suicide among children, women and men.
It is important to understand, according to the study, that the higher rates of suicide among those who own guns has to do with the fact that guns are much more lethal than other methods of attempting suicide. What is troubling about this is that suicide attempts are viewed as a desperate call for help among those who are depressed or mentally ill with a psychotic illness. The rate of successful suicide completions is far less for people who use other methods than using a gun. For example, 75% of all suicide attempts are by the use of drugs. These people are found alive 97% of the time. Those who succeed in using drugs to attempt suicide are successful only 3% of the time. By contrast, more than 90% of all suicide attempts by use of firearms are successful. The bottom line is that anyone using a gun to commit suicide is not likely to have their call for help heard and responded to before its too late.
Guns and Suicide - Suicide, Depression, Anxiety Disorders
At Risk: Availability of Guns Raises Suicide Rates, Study Finds
People who live in communities with a lot of guns are more likely to kill themselves, a new study says.
The findings, the researchers say, add weight to the argument that when people have less access to guns, they are less likely to commit suicide. Earlier research raised the question of whether people intent on suicide would simply switch to another equally lethal method if unable to find a gun.
In the new report, in the current issue of The Journal of Trauma, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health said they had found evidence that the ready availability of firearms is likely to have the greatest effect on suicide rates in groups characterized by more impulsive behavior.
The researchers, led by Dr. Matthew Miller, compared statistics on gun ownership by state with statistics on suicide. They also took into account factors like poverty, mental illness and drug abuse.
When they looked at the 15 states with the highest firearm ownership, the researchers found that twice as many people committed suicide as in the six states with the lowest firearm ownership. The population in each group of states was about the same, the researchers said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/health/17risk.html
I support the right of Americans to splatter their fucking brains all over the walls if they so choose.