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Gun Ownership and Suicide - clearing up the misconceptions

learnaboutguns.com — Some anti-gun-rights groups will try to argue that gun ownership causes increased suicide rates. This is similar to the equally incorrect assertion that the presence of guns leads to crime. The fact is, those who are serious about committing suicide will do so, and many of them choose guns for a variety of practical reasons. Allow me to explain:

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learnaboutguns 45 days ago

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mithrasinvictus, on 07/07/2008, -3/+2Guns are the easiest, most effective and most commonly used suicide weapon.
If a gun had not been used or even been around, people might have lived or changed their minds.

No misconceptions, just facts and conclusions.
- Dimensio, on 07/07/2008, -2/+4Please justify your assertion. Please also explain the suicide rate in Japan, where firearms ownership is prohibited and where the suicide rate is significantly higher than the sucicide rate in the United States.
  - mithrasinvictus, on 07/07/2008, -2/+2FTFA: "guns are an effective way of ending human life" attests to the effectiveness.
    
    from the cdc page linked from TFA:
    17002 gun suicides out of 32,637 total suicides.
    
    I trust you'll agree to ease of use. (especially at point blank range) Guns are efficient tools to get a job done.
    
    If someone owned a gun, say "for protection", a decision could be acted upon within moments leaving little time for second thoughts compared to other methods.
    
    As for Japan, it's a different culture where loss or lack of social standing is sometimes seen as worse than death and where suicide bombers were seen as heroes as recently as WWII.
    If they had guns, the problem would probably get worse.
    
    I'm not saying guns make the owners more susceptible to thoughts of suicide, but once they get them it is more likely to be fatal.
  - Dimensio, on 07/07/2008, -1/+3You have still not demonstrated that the suicide rate would be significantly different were firearms not accessible. Merely asserting that this is the case is not a demonstration that it is the case.
    
    Note also that suicide rates in Germany and Australia are also higher than suicide rates in the United States.
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Gun Ownership and Suicide - clearing up the misconceptions

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