They use suicide by gun in gun violence statistics. Not really fair. Given a choice in a suicidal person, a gun is likely an easy and effective option. If no gun....seems like there are plenty of other options.
Methods of Suicide: Suffocation (strangulation and hanging). Jumping from height. Drowning. Poisoning. Drug overdose. Carbon monoxide. Gas-oven. Shooting. Cutting and stabbing. Starvation and dehydration. Collision with or of a vehicle. Electrocution. Hypothermia.
• Using data from the 2017-2019 National Violent Death Reporting System, in all age groups, 55% of men and 30% of women used firearms; 28% of men and 29% of women hanging/suffocation; 9% of men and 32% of women poisoning, and 8% of men and 9% of women “other” methods (Front. Public Health. 2022;10 DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2022.955008). “The findings call for the following suicide prevention strategies: (1) restricted access to firearms; (2) improved access to mental health/substance use treatment; (3) improved long-term and palliative care services for those (mostly older adults) with physical health problems; (4) financial/housing support policies to mitigate economic hardship; and (5) more research to identify effective strategies to curtail the increasing use of firearm and hanging/suffocation among young and middle-aged adults.”
• There is data that shows access to guns increases the risk of suicide by gun. But a looking at World Health Organization data indicates that the United States falls more or less in the middle of the pack for both male and female suicides, with 17.7 male deaths (38th-most among 105 countries) and 4.5 female deaths (40th) per 100,000 people (the transnational statistics are drawn from varying years)(https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/03/how-does-americas-suicide-rate-compare-globally/#:~:text=But%20a%20look%20at%20World,are%20drawn%20from%20varying%20years).
I remember reading a while back that Japan, where almost no guns are in private hands, has a much higher suicide rate than the US.
If someone wants to kill themselves, they’ll find a way.
Well, of course increased access to guns means increased suicides by gun.
Duh. It’s likely to be quicker and easier than beating yourself to death with a stick.
That does not imply an increase in suicides, which I would suspect is driven by a complex group of other factors, not the least of which is that children are just not taught coping skills.
They are free to use "suicide by gun" in the statistics they employ in calling for more gun control - but then they should also be forced to accept "suicide by jumping out of windows" as a meaningful, legitimate reason to implement more window control.
Regards,
The do use suicide to pad their gun violence stats but rarely tell you or actually dont know its included in whatever propaganda theyre spewing…. Which is quite disingenuous…. Seeing as more than half of “gun deaths” come from suicide.