Half of US gun deaths are suicides
- added June 30, 2008
- 55 responses
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- current89
- added this
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55% of gun related deaths are suicides, a person is more likely to kill themself then to kill others around them.
By AP/MIKE STOBBE
(ATLANTA) — The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves.
Suicides accounted for 55% of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There was nothing unique about that year — gun-related suicides have outnumbered firearm homicides and accidents for 20 of the last 25 years. In 2005, homicides accounted for 40% of gun deaths. Accidents accounted for 3 percent. The remaining 2% included legal killings, such as when police do the shooting, and cases that involve undetermined intent.
Public-health researchers have concluded that in homes where guns are present, the likelihood that someone in the home will die from suicide or homicide is much greater.
Studies have also shown that homes in which a suicide occurred were three to five times more likely to have a gun present than households that did not experience a suicide, even after accounting for other risk factors.
End of Excerpt
Full Article at Time Magazine's web page, link below
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1819165,...
Poster Script: I believe this furthers the fact that guns are dangerous.
By AP/MIKE STOBBE
(ATLANTA) — The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves.
Suicides accounted for 55% of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There was nothing unique about that year — gun-related suicides have outnumbered firearm homicides and accidents for 20 of the last 25 years. In 2005, homicides accounted for 40% of gun deaths. Accidents accounted for 3 percent. The remaining 2% included legal killings, such as when police do the shooting, and cases that involve undetermined intent.
Public-health researchers have concluded that in homes where guns are present, the likelihood that someone in the home will die from suicide or homicide is much greater.
Studies have also shown that homes in which a suicide occurred were three to five times more likely to have a gun present than households that did not experience a suicide, even after accounting for other risk factors.
End of Excerpt
Full Article at Time Magazine's web page, link below
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1819165,...
Poster Script: I believe this furthers the fact that guns are dangerous.
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this is as telling about guns as it is about suicide...what is causing over 16,000 people a year to kill themselves? of course the answers to that could be very diverse but could it also be some sort of underlying societal alienation? The first 'official' sociology essay was based on suicide but it still remains a valid point of research. we should try to fix this undercurrent of death and destruction while also trying to regulate the superficial aspects of the problem (guns)
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- beingiseasy
- 1 month ago
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I hate hand guns. When I get depressed I don't want a handy tool around to end my life. It's hard to kill yourself with an aluminum baseball bat. So I'm sticking with that for defense.
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- Marilynn_Murray
- 1 month ago
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This is a sad commentary on our country in so many ways.
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- BetterWatching
- 1 month ago
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Ignorance or stupidity?
Take away a gun and people will use a bomb. . .
Take away a bomb people will use knives. . .
Take away knives people will use baseball bats. . .
HOLY CRAP, BASEBALL BATS, what will you hate then marilynn? Where does it stop, hating guns is not the answer.
Do you hate french fries for heart diesease?
God bless america
God bless big oil
GOD BLESS MY ARSENAL AND ESPECIALLY MY TRUSTY REMINGTON PUMP! -
Look Jerk, I can hate guns if I want. Hand guns are for killing people period. Baseball bats are for playing ball, or if you come to my house and need help to decide to leave.
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- Marilynn_Murray
- 1 month ago
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LMAO, you people will stop at nothing. If people are dumb enough to put a gun in their mouth and pull the trigger then so be it, let 'em go. I'd rather they remove themselves from the gene pool (and take their emo music with them) than cloud the gene pool with pathetic self loathing offspring. It's high time we stop sterilizing society and protecting the dumbest of the dumb from themselves.
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- Liberal_Extinction
- 1 month ago
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Tisk Tisk puppy dog, go chew on a raw hide, and not mine.
I will chalk it up to ignorance with a touch of stupidity.
God bless my 870 pump (shotgun not a handgun marilynn)
God bless big oil -
Guns are weapons. It might be obvious to say that, but they have NO other use? Well... Practical use (*shoots the tab off of my Dr. Pepper; creates large hole in the can and all of it spills to the floor*)
Why do you think half of the suicides in that god-awful movie, "The Happening", were gun related?
Knives are tools. Rope is a tool. Most people use cars to get places, not to use as a chamber for carbon monoxide to build up.
Jumping from buildings is usually public, and a response team has time to get to them.
With guns, it's pull the trigger and you're gone.-
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- handshakeheartbreak
- 1 month ago
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Nobody owns a gun intending to use it against themselves, but households with children often tend to have suicide risks higher because the child might see the gun as a source of escape.
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I would prefer to combat with a knife, if it came down to it. A knife is more stealthy, a whole lot more quieter and not as lethal. I always have a knife with me (legal one, of course) just in case. But nothing is faster than the trigger finger. And, I will own a gun, eventually, for family protection against intruders who have guns. Will probably never be used except at the shooting range, but better safe than sorry.
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- Midnight_DevilX
- 1 month ago
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Puppydog and current89
Don't you know you're not supposed to bring a bat to a gun fight???? -
WOW! that is horrible. So much for the right to bear arms helping use instead it hurts people. People say they keep guns in there house from protection......riiiight. I am starting to think other wise. Maybe people have guns to feel better about themselves or to make them feel more power over others.
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- currentkid
- 1 month ago
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... everytime i pictured a gun... i pictured the guy from kill bill with the shotgun that takes her out as soon as she is about to walk in....
ignorance doing its magic
why? i mean... sure america has its faults but its way better than certain middle eastern nations and african nations and such when considering living conditions and what not... -
Here's how the pro-gun logic goes for this type of story, "I say let'em kill themselves! Har har! Just thins out the gene pool!"
The only problem with suicidal people having guns?
They sometimes go on extended kill-sprees to "get back" at the world that they feel is making them so miserable.
The Colombine Killers had every intention of killing thesmeves.....AFTER they killed as many of their classmates as possible.
The Virginia Tech killer? Never planned on surviving...and he was gonna take as many people as he could with before he offed himself (or let one of the cops shoot him).
The many, many work place kill-sprees that have occured over the years? You bet they were suicidal...and definitely put the gun in their mouth AFTER they made all their co-workers pay because the guy didn't get the promotion he thought he deserved.
So the fact that so many mentally ill/suicidal people have access to lethal weaponry is a disturbing thought.
Unfortunately the only real solution is to limit the number and kind of guns available. -
I don't see why the pro-gun camp is unilaterally opposed to phasing out certain types of firearms (handguns) and replacing them with non-lethal self-defense weapons like stun guns or pepper spray?
More and more this seems like a psychological issue as opposed to a pratical one.
We always here fanatsy stories about how people plan on "whipping out their gun" to defend themselves -- well, why not whip out a stun gun instead?
What's the difference?
Is it marketing?
Is it that it just doesn't seem as cool to pull out a stun gun or pepper spray?
Wouldn't we all be safer if the mentally ill/suicidal didn't have access to certain types of firearms? And they only particial way to do that is to just stop manufacturing those types of weapons or allowing them to be imported into the US. -
Today in Georgia, a law has been passed for people to legally carry guns in this state. In my opinion, this is a drastic mistake. I think that it will only hinder us more. Carry a guns won't solve anybody's problems. It will just make the situation worse. Take for instance the death toll with Afganastan and Iraq. What caused those tolls of death to be so high? The carrying of weapons. Now Georgia has passed this law, Today we are in a much more harsher situation than we were in yesterday.
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Are both the Crips and the Bloods heavily armed?
Yes.
Does that knowledge that a rival gang member has a gun (or several including military grade weaponry) act as ANY kind of deterrent? That is, are violent attacks between gang members rare because they are so afraid that the other person may have a gun?
No.
So does the arguement that conceal and carry laws deter crime make sense?
Not really. The extreme level of violent crimes occuring in gang neighborhoods is proof that, no, most criminals aren't afraid of attacking other hardened criminals with guns.
Are a very large number of robberies/attacks in the US motivated by drug use?
A significant number are.
Do people who habitually use drugs -- and are desperate enough to rob someone in order to get money for drugs -- going to hesitate and not "take the risk" if they suspect their target may have a gun?
Doesn't seem likely. They are already acting very irrationally (and self destrcutively) because of the drug use.
If a criminal can't see if you have a gun -- wouldn't that just make them more cautious during the attack (as in attacking from behind and in larger groups) as opposed to deterring them?
Seems logical. I doubt very much the following thought-process as ever occured:
"I was going to rob this man and use the money to buy more crack," reasons the crackhead. "But thanks to these new conceal and carry laws he might have a weapon. It's too ricky! I'll simply stop doing drugs, get a job at McDonald's and turn my life around!" -
Guns are a tool how they are used, either for suicide, murder or self-defense is up to the person using it. I do not think this should be an issue of gun control, the root of the problem seems to be depression. People who are depressed should seek help either from a doctor, a shrink or maybe even their best friend. Suicide doesn't help you. Sure you don't feel any pain when your dead, but you don't feel happy either. You lose all the good moments you could enjoy if you stick around and live a good life!
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- Buttercup87
- 1 month ago
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And what if those death tubes weren't there?
Maybe they'd have tome to think twice about it.
Still, it's their life, their choice.
Guns suck.
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