From the, Well, No Shit files

[CM Mark]

Guns at home equal higher suicide risk: study





WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Suicide rates among people of all ages are higher in states where more homes have guns, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

Twice as many people committed suicide in the 15 states with the highest levels of household gun ownership, compared with the six states with the lowest levels, even though the population in all the states was about the same, the researchers found.

"We found that where there are more guns, there are more suicides," said Matthew Miller of the Harvard School of Public Health, who led the study.

While just 5 percent of all suicide attempts involve a gun, the person succeeds in killing himself or herself 90 percent of the time.

People use drugs to attempt suicide in 75 percent of cases, but actually die less than 3 percent of the time, the researchers said, citing other surveys.

The study, published in the Journal of Trauma, suggests that removing guns from homes, particularly those with adolescents, would have a big impact on suicide prevention.

"In a nation where more than half of all suicides are gun suicides and where more than one in three homes have firearms, one cannot talk about suicide without talking about guns," Miller said in a statement.

Suicide is the 11th-leading cause of death among Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2004, more than half of the 32,439 Americans who committed suicide used a firearm

Miller and colleagues used survey data to estimate the percentage of people who kept guns in their homes in each of the 50 states. They looked at a survey of 200,000 people done by the CDC in 2001, which found that about a third of U.S. households reported having a gun.

They took into account poverty, urbanization, unemployment, drug and alcohol dependence and abuse, and mental illness, and calculated the relationship of gun ownership to suicide.

"Removing all firearms from one's home is one of the most effective and straightforward steps that household decision-makers can take to reduce the risk of suicide," Miller said.

"Removing firearms may be especially effective in reducing the risk of suicide among adolescents and other potentially impulsive members of their home," Miller added.

"Short of removing all firearms, the next best thing is to make sure that all guns in homes are very securely locked up and stored separately from secured ammunition," he said.

The same team found in February that guns are used to kill two out of every three murder victims in the United States.


http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0934955120070410?feedType=RSS&pageNumber=1

[LiddyRules]

But how many home invaders kill themselves with the homeowner's gun? That's the stats the liberal media doesn't want you to know.

[BravoSierra]

If guns were 100% outlawed, this article would read:

"Homes with rope and a ceiling fan inside have a higher suicide rate."

They're gonna fucking kill themselves anyways... let'em. It's the accidental shit that drives me nuts. I just read about a family gathering in.... ahem.... Oakland and they were at a house grieving for a lost loved one. Well... a 14 year old girl found a handgun in a bedroom and guess what? I'll bet $50,000 she took the clip out and forgot about the chamber. Why one would point a gun at your own head and pull the trigger is beyond me. Get a fucking clue sparkling wiggle. Two funerals in one week, I'll bet that's fucking wonderful.

You should be forced to own a safe if you also own a gun IMO. Either that, or have kids that aren't fucking retarded.

[bethm1b]

You should be forced to own a safe if you also own a gun IMO. Either that, or have kids that aren't fucking retarded.


Who gets the combination though? What if that person is the crazy one? Funny they wont stop selling these prescription meds that list suicidality as a side effect.

[Mommadeez4u]

what we can take from the 'news' article: 95% of the time, in houses that exist in states where there are lots of guns, the suicide attempt does not involve a gun. In the 5% of the time where the suicide attempt involves a gun, 90% of the time the suicide actually gets accomplished.

Miller and colleagues used survey data to estimate the percentage of people who kept guns in their homes in each of the 50 states. They looked at a survey of 200,000 people done by the CDC in 2001, which found that about a third of U.S. households reported having a gun.

They took into account poverty, urbanization, unemployment, drug and alcohol dependence and abuse, and mental illness, and calculated the relationship of gun ownership to suicide.

From the 'no shit' files? Seems to me it should be from the 'full of shit' files.

[brose]

I don't understand what this article is trying to prove. Guns are effective for killing yourself? Thats been known for a long time. They are trying to draw a correlation between suicide and gunownership, but it says right in the article only 5 PERCENT of suicide attempts are gun related. Just because the other methods aren't as successful as guns doesn't mean guns are the problem. Sure its a good idea to keep your gun locked up when you aren't home, but that isn't going to deter the suicidality of these individuals. Does this study look at how many of these suicides involved the actual gun kept in the house? I doubt that number would be "shocking" enough to warrant mention in this article. If a person is willing to kill themselves they will find a way, but I don't see a razor blade, tylenol, or rope ban being discussed.

I agree with BravoSierra, its the accidental stuff thats outrageous. I don't understand how somebody can point a gun at your face and get shot on accident. I'm nuts when it comes to clearing the chamber, i'll cycle the slide several times to make sure then visually inspect the barrel. Then when I'm taking it apart I still keep the gun pointed at the floor until the barrel is removed from the receiver. I don't understand how people can be careless with such a dangerous weapon.

[LiddyRules]

I don't understand what this article is trying to prove. Guns are effective for killing yourself? Thats been known for a long time. Hence the "no shit" file. I remember reading about how the number of suicides (in I think Britian) went down after they switched the gas in ovens from lethal gas to non-lethal gas. That's pretty much the point that if it's easier to kill oneself people will succeed in doing it more, hence the "no shit" files. Stop acting like the article is bullshit since it seems to be against your agenda. Would you say that British(?) study was against gas?

[brose]

Hence the "no shit" file. I remember reading about how the number of suicides (in I think Britian) went down after they switched the gas in ovens from lethal gas to non-lethal gas. That's pretty much the point that if it's easier to kill oneself people will succeed in doing it more, hence the "no shit" files. Stop acting like the article is bullshit since it seems to be against your agenda. Would you say that British(?) study was against gas?

I think you are taking that quote out of context. I never said the study was bullshit. I was saying that if someone really wants to kill themselves, they will do it the most effective way possible. Aside from hanging, most other attempts are merely a cry for attention and not meant to succeed. So obviously these numbers will be skewed to show 50% of all deaths are gun related, but that doesn't take into account the true willingness to die, nor does it mention that there were just under 400,000 attempts to achieve that 32,000 deaths. Also, it doesn't seem strange that they talk about the states with the highest rates of gunowner ship in the beginning, but show no hard numbers comparing to other states? Then they turn around and just show it nationwide. Why not compare Texas to a state with low gun ownership? I'm not saying there won't be a disparity between the two states, but why not show it with numbers instead of just throwing out a statement in the beginning then not backing it up?

Twice as many people committed suicide in the 15 states with the highest levels of household gun ownership, compared with the six states with the lowest levels, even though the population in all the states was about the same, the researchers found.

This statement does not correlate gun-related suicides in these "high-level" states, just says that 2x as many people kill themselves in these states. That doesn't convince me that the 200% difference is because of guns, and the numbers they use later in the article only talk about gun-related suicides nationwide (not based on gun-ownership) and its not that hard to get your hands on a gun if you really want one without actually being a gun owner. Do you see the point I'm making? I'm not pushing an agenda, just saying I don't think this article really says what they make it look like it says.

And yes, its not a bright idea to keep a loaded and accessible gun around a person likely to kill themselves; but its also not a good idea to keep lots of opiates, tylenol, or anti-depressants around those same people. I'm pretty sure making those drugs less accessible in large quantities would reduce suicide also.

[THE FEZ MAN]

gun grabbers use those numbers all the time. fuck em,. you want to kill your self. do it in the fucking shower, its easyer to clean up, asshat