General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It’s One Of The Craziest Internet Rumors About Guns. And As It Turns Out, It’s True. [View all]maxsolomon
(33,310 posts)The OP asserts that ALL US civilian firearm deaths are now greater in number than all the deaths in American wars. It is supposed to be a number that makes people think, to reconsider their opinion on guns. Instead it prompts you to argue with multiple people that the number is inaccurate.
Suicide by gun is a subset of the larger category of firearm deaths. My assertion is that guns facilitate SUCCESS in attempting suicide to a greater degree than other methods.
Whether or not that person would have attempted/succeeded by another method is irrelevant for the purposes of the OP. They didn't. Statistically, they are a gun suicide death and go into the larger category of gun deaths. Why is that so difficult to accept?
Here's another link for you to reject as not factual:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
A relevant paragraph:
Beyond sheer lethality, however, what makes gun suicide attempts so resistant to traditional psychological suicide-prevention protocols is the high degree of impulsivity that often accompanies them. In a 1985 study of 30 people who had survived self-inflicted gunshot wounds, more than half reported having had suicidal thoughts for less than 24 hours, and none of the 30 had written suicide notes. This tendency toward impulsivity is especially common among young people and not only with gun suicides. In a 2001 University of Houston study of 153 survivors of nearly lethal attempts between the ages of 13 and 34, only 13 percent reported having contemplated their act for eight hours or longer. To the contrary, 70 percent set the interval between deciding to kill themselves and acting at less than an hour, including an astonishing 24 percent who pegged the interval at less than five minutes.