Surprising and possibly impulsive suicides

[ThankGod4Walsh]

No, I didn't. But thank you again for offering your only theory on how to reduce gun violence.

Yes yes. Solving the "why" people resort to such measures is a real bad place to start.

[PatsFan2003]

As someone who has actually considered suicide and someone who has now had a little bit of training in talking to people who are suicidal, I can say pretty clearly that easy access to guns is a bad thing. Sometimes, you just need a little time to rethink your thoughts. A gun in the home gives less time. One of the key things suicide hotlines ask is: "Do you have a plan?" You would much rather hear, "I'm going to drive off a cliff a few miles from my house," or even, "I'm going to the top of my building," than, "I have a gun in my hand."

And please stop with the canard that people will find a way. Of course they will. However, there are many reasons to have rope or painkillers or bathtubs/toasters or tall buildings. There are very few reasons to have a gun. It is far more likely that something bad will happen with a gun in the house than something good. That is magnified greatly if someone is suicidal.

Those echo my thoughts exactly. I guess if one is determined to kill themselves they'll find a way but I just can't imagine it's a easy thing to do no matter how bad you feel. Guns are just so quick and with a click of the trigger it can be all over.

Only about 1 in 20 suicide attempts succeed. It just can't be that easy.

[Big Pink Monkey]

Yes yes. Solving the "why" people resort to such measures is a real bad place to start.

Yes, you understand my critique so well.

[Breed]

I'm not getting into the whole debate going on here, but when you say efficient, I assume you aren't referring to the poor SOB who has to clean the brains up afterward.

I had a friend a few years back take pills to commit suicide. We know it was intentional because he left a note that said "this $hit better work". It did, they found him all cold 2 days later. Not much to clean up though.

Yeah, suicide in and of itself has to be a hard enough thing to deal with for the loved ones of the suicide victim. But when they leave their brain matter and other sh*t splattered all over the walls, ceiling, floors, furniture, etc. Well, lets just say that's gotta be an extra mule-like kick in the metaphorical nutsack of those left behind.

[AlexPKeaton]

According to the New England Journal of Medicine it is 43X more likely that something bad will happen: It is a fact. Guns kept in the home for self-protection are 43 times more likely to kill a family member, friend or acquaintance than to kill an intruder, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. http://www.newrepublic.com/blog/plan...-all-the-guns#.

I've read several analysis' of this research, and it was really, really flawed. It was a very small sample, maybe one county somewhere. IIRC about 80% of the "friendly fire" deaths were suicides. Furthermore, the study did not include any instances of the firearm being used for defense of health or home where the assailant was not killed. So, if you shot him, put him in ICU for 3 weeks followed by prison for 20 yrs, it was not included. If you pumped the action on your shotgun and the burgular fled, that was not counted. If you held an assailant at gunpoint until the cops arrived, that was not included. It was a true case of cherry picking stats to support what you wanted supported.

[USAFspeedboy]

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I've read several analysis' of this research, and it was really, really flawed. It was a very small sample, maybe one county somewhere. IIRC about 80% of the "friendly fire" deaths were suicides. Furthermore, the study did not include any instances of the firearm being used for defense of health or home where the assailant was not killed. So, if you shot him, put him in ICU for 3 weeks followed by prison for 20 yrs, it was not included. If you pumped the action on your shotgun and the burgular fled, that was not counted. If you held an assailant at gunpoint until the cops arrived, that was not included. It was a true case of cherry picking stats to support what you wanted supported.

Yeah... Am i the only one thats gonna call bulchit on this "study". Two things make ut impossible to get, even a ballpark figure. Let alone an accurate reading of in hime gun tragedy.

1. No one knows how many homes own guns.

2. The rate of death by firearm isnt high enough to be 2 times more likey, than anything.

If there are only 12,000
Firearm related deaths per year, and less than 100 million homes with guns in them.

That means by defualt

Im more than 43 xs more likely to die of altzhiemers, due to me being born in the usa.

Its complete horsechit.

Anyone can luanch a "study" these days lol. I got a good finding. If you belong to my family, you have a zero percent chance of being shot. I mean, do to the fact no-one, of the dozens of gun owning kin i have has ever been shot, we must all be bullet proof right?

[Rear Admiral]

Well, Gents, I did not say I vouched for the study (the fact it comes from New England automatically implies we take it with a few vacant clams). I also noted my other concerns about guns and that I've known many who've owned them for years without incident. However, we all know if we watch the news we will see a regular stream of tadpoles who never become frogs. Just last week I was going to start a gun thread to see if we could post 50 accidental gun shootings in a month. By the time I wrote the thread I realized a) we have too many gun threads already, and b) 5 accidental shootings at gun shows in America in one day seemed like the experts beat me to it. With the rush on guns nationwide of late, I expect the 43x ratio to hold more clams than vacancies.

[Wounded Bear]

So you can use a building or a bathtub for self-defense during a home invasion?

I probaby could.

I once f***ed up a dude with some chewing gum, some tweasers, some bear grease, and can of tuna. You wouldn't last three seconds with me and a bath tub.