{"id":55766,"date":"2020-06-08T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T17:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=55766"},"modified":"2020-06-08T12:00:23","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T17:00:23","slug":"55766","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=55766","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

NYT Article Pushes Idea That Guns Cause Suicide – Why They Are Wrong<\/a><\/p>\n

The New York Times recently published\u00a0yet another article<\/a>\u00a0pushing the narrative that owning a firearm increases the risk of suicide.\u00a0 To most people, this seems logical – but I know that the reasoning leading to this conclusion is false.\u00a0 I have a great deal of experience with suicide, thanks to 10 years experience in EMS.\u00a0 As a result, I absolutely know that every study I have ever seen on the issue of guns and suicide is pure bunk, as is this article.\u00a0 Here’s why.<\/p>\n

1) As anyone who has ever been a first responder knows, the vast majority of so called “suicide attempts” are not in fact attempts to commit suicide.<\/b><\/p>\n
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Never the less, that will be the admission diagnosis.\u00a0 So when is a suicide attempt not a suicide attempt?\u00a0 Answer:\u00a0When it is done to manipulate someone or as a “cry for help” – and this intent affects the method chosen.<\/b><\/p>\n

This is something that I, as an EMT and Paramedic saw all the time.\u00a0 For instance, we would get a call for an “overdose”.\u00a0 Arriving at the scene, we would find the person who had overdosed, usually on some over the counter\u00a0medication.\u00a0 They had then called the person they wished to manipulate and informed them that they had taken pills in an effort to kill themselves.\u00a0 Of course, this person then either rushes over to the overdose “victim” or calls 911.\u00a0 We would arrive and typically find a fully awake patient who now would be placed on a mental health hold due to “attempt suicide”.\u00a0 Frequently they would be interacting with the person they called.\u00a0 In many cases they claimed to have taken such a small quantity of pills that it was clear there was no attempt to harm themselves.\u00a0 Of course, everyone goes forward as if the person really wanted to die.\u00a0 We would then transport the person to the county hospital on a mental health hold.\u00a0 They would be admitted as “attempt suicide”, method “medication overdose”.\u00a0\u00a0For every actual suicide attempt I responded to in my 10 years in EMS, I responded to 50 to\u00a0100 of these “non-suicide suicide attempts”.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The problem arises when someone does a statistical study for suicide attempts and methods.\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0All of these “non-suicide suicide attempts” are counted as actual suicide attempts that did not succeed.\u00a0 The false conclusion is reflected in the following quote from the NYT article:<\/p>\n

\u201cMany suicide attempts are impulsive, and the crisis that leads to them is fleeting,\u201d Dr. Miller said. \u201cThe method you use largely determines whether you live or die. And if you use a gun,\u00a0you are far more likely to die than with other methods, like taking pills.<\/b>\u00a0With guns, you usually do not get a second chance.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

That conclusion is written based on faulty information.<\/b>\u00a0 The vast majority of people who take pills do not want to die.\u00a0 Those who use firearms or other deadly methods do.<\/div>\n

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2) People chose a suicide method based upon their desire to live or their desire to die.<\/b><\/p>\n

The second lesson I learned as an EMT\/Paramedic is that people who really want to die choose a method that is quick and sure.\u00a0 They do not want to be found and saved.\u00a0 While the act seems impulsive to those left behind, it has been considered and likely planned for a long time.<\/p>\n

In the US, where firearms are available, they are frequently chosen.\u00a0however, they are not the only method of ending one’s life quickly.\u00a0 People use rope to hang themselves, they jump from high places and use many other methods.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Even the flawed research supports this conclusion.\u00a0 Again referring\u00a0to the NYT article we learn this on\u00a0paragraph TWELVE:<\/div>\n
\n“Another possibility was so-called reverse causation: that many buyers were bent on suicide before they bought the gun. The findings did provide some evidence of that. In the month immediately after first-time owners obtained their weapons (California has a 10-day waiting period), the risk of shooting themselves on purpose was nearly 500 per 100,000, about 100 times higher than similar non-owners; after several years it tapered off to about twice the rate.”<\/i><\/div>\n
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3) The data from the rest of the world completely refutes the article’s conclusion.<\/b><\/div>\n
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<\/a><\/div>\n
First, the nations that have the highest suicide rates frequently have very low to no legal firearms availability.\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0These nations include\u00a0Russia 26.5 (93% higher than US),\u00a0Belarus 21.4 (56% higher) and\u00a0South Korea 20.2 (47% higher).\u00a0 Somehow, people in these nations are able to commit suicide at very high rates without access to firearms.<\/p>\n

Second, when we compare similar English speaking nations, that widely differ in their access to firearms, we do not see a huge difference in the suicide rates:<\/b><\/p>\n

UK (2018) suicide rate of 11.2 per 100k population – firearms in 4% of homes.<\/div>\n
US (2017)\u00a0suicide rate of\u00a014.0 per 100K\u00a0\u00a0population – firearms in\u00a045% of homes.<\/div>\n
Canada (2017)\u00a0suicide rate of\u00a011.3 per\u00a0100k population – firearms in\u00a028% of homes.
\n(Stats from Wikipedia or other official sources)<\/div>\n
\nIt is especially notable\u00a0that Canada has seven times the firearms availability as the UK and virtually the same suicide rate.\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0If firearms are the factor this article claims, Canada’s suicide rate should be much, much higher.<\/p>\n

4) Finally, it is a practical impossibly to eliminate all suicide methods that those who truly wish to die might use.<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Even this chart from an anti-gun rights source
\nshows that as firearms are made less available
\nsuicides do not go down.\u00a0 People simply use
\nother methods.<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
In the UK the most common method is hanging – yet no one is trying to eliminate access to rope and other cordage.\u00a0 We cannot eliminate access to every high place, or to traffic, or quick acting poisons, and the list goes on.\u00a0 If we are going to reduce the suicide rate in the US, gun control is not the answer.\u00a0 That’s why some mental health professionals are\u00a0speaking out against\u00a0the idea<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Why do gun control advocates push gun control as the answer to suicide?<\/b>\u00a0 Well, as gun ownership and concealed carry have skyrocketed, the murder rate has dropped by 50% and violent crime has plummeted.\u00a0 Their answer has been to push their own “gun death” figure that combines all firearms related deaths.\u00a0 However, about 66% of these deaths are suicides.\u00a0 If people realize that gun control has no hope of reducing suicides, those who are anti-gun rights lose their most powerful argument.\u00a0 \u00a0That is why they will continue to push this lie.<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NYT Article Pushes Idea That Guns Cause Suicide – Why They Are Wrong The New York Times recently published\u00a0yet another article\u00a0pushing the narrative that owning a firearm increases the risk of suicide.\u00a0 To most people, this seems logical – but I know that the reasoning leading to this conclusion is false.\u00a0 I have a great … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deceit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55767,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55766\/revisions\/55767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}