Suicide rates boosted by easy access to guns, researchers say

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Independent


'It is often said that people would kill themselves anyway, even if they didn't have access to guns. There is an entire body of research that tells us that is simply not true'

Ian Johnston Science Correspondent @montaukian 2 hours ago

The number of suicides in the US is being inflated by the easy access to guns, a new study comparing rates in Maryland suggests.

Researchers found suicide rates in the most rural areas of the state were 35 per cent higher than in the most urban areas and said a “big reason why” was the greater number of guns in the former. The rate of suicides using firearms was 66 per cent higher.

Suicide is the second most common cause of death in the US for adults under the age of 45, after accidental injury.

The suicide rate hit 13.3 deaths per 100,000 people in 2015, the highest level in 30 years.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/suicide-rates-maryland-rural-urban-firearms-guns-johns-hopkins-united-states-a7898951.html

[Purveyor]

1. Electrocution rates go up in households with electricity...

[marylandblue]

2. How many people try to kill themselves by electrocution?

Of those who try, how many succeed?

[Purveyor]

3. Haven't a clue but if interested, research it and let me know.

[marylandblue]

7. So small, it doesn't show up in suicide statistics, but...

The total number of home electrocution injuries ( accidental and suicidal together) per year is 4,000. Total number of deaths is 400. Total number of successful gun suicides is 21,000 and gun suicides are successful 85% of the time, making it one of the most effective methods of suicides. This is why higher access to guns increases the suicide rate. There is no comparison between electricity and guns as a factor in preventing suicides.

[haele]

11. Toaster or radio in the bathtub. Because they saw that on TV crime shows.

It doesn't normally succeed, though. I've been electrocuted a couple times over my career in the Navy - once with 15K high voltage (thankfully low current) thanks to idiots ignoring tagged circuit breakers, and I haven't been killed yet. Thrown 20 ft. across the space into a padded bulkhead and lost the feeling in my right arm for almost a day with that last electrocution, but I recovered just fine.
However, we did have a guy get struck in a main I.C. switchboard when he was working a night shift (again, some idiot ignoring tagged circuit breakers); there was not a lot left to recover.

Suicide by electrocution is not easy to plan and rarely succeeds unless someone actually is an electrician and has access to a high current piece of equipment/power panel.
Accidental electrocution is what normally kills people.

Haele

[LanternWaste]

9. Statistical aberrations, irrelevant to the original point, are quite critical to validate a bias.

Statistical aberrations, irrelevant to the original point, are quite critical to validate a bias.

[Skittles]

4. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT

HAVING ACCESS GUNS MAY LEAD TO DEADLY SNAP DECISIONS

[lunasun]

5. Duh

[larwdem]

6. I know one thing

When I was young and stupid . If I had a gun I would have used it instead of my fists.
I had a temper.

[enough]

8. K&R NT

[metalbot]

10. Similar result was found in Fiji

In Fiji, there's a very high suicide rate among recently married women. This is a cultural thing, in part, because women tend to marry men from other islands, and then go live with the man's family after marriage. This often removes their own support network, and sometimes puts them in very unhealthy environments. Of the women that do kill themselves, about a third hang themselves, and the others eat an overdose of pesticide.

A government study basically concluded "we need to limit access to pesticide".