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In reply to the discussion: Study: More Guns Lead To More Suicides [View all]Blackjackdavey
(177 posts)As I noted in my post above -- this data does not in any way suggest that guns cause suicide. Instead, the data verifies what professional clinicians such as myself already know which is that increasing access to the most lethal means of suicide equals more successful suicides. That is all. As I also noted above, you cannot provide competent mental health services without accounting for the presence of firearms within the family or social system of each potentially suicidal client. With that said, I would encourage you and other gun owner advocates to understand that most mental health practitioners are not advocating for any fundamental change in the right for healthy and responsible individuals to own a firearm. In fact, at my practice we go out of our way to work with the families and friends to secure firearms informally -- we work with folks in order to increase their attention to detail around responsible ownership in order to prevent a tragedy that affects individuals, families and entire communities. To do otherwise would be grossly incompetent and negligent. However, as I also mentioned above, the blasé attitude toward the extraordinary ability of guns to kill loved ones often leads to more formal interventions such as involving local law enforcement in order to temporarily secure firearms when someone in the family is displaying a heightened risk of harm to self or others.