{"id":61913,"date":"2020-11-18T13:18:21","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T19:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=61913"},"modified":"2020-11-18T13:18:21","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T19:18:21","slug":"61913","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=61913","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Stop Blaming Guns For Suicides<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearly two-thirds of all firearm fatalities each year are the result of someone taking their own life. Anti-gunners routinely leave that part out when they\u2019d slinging numbers around because people don\u2019t view suicides the same way they do homicides or accidents. After all, someone commits suicide by making a conscious decision to take their own life. It\u2019s on them and no one else.<\/p>\n

And since two-thirds of those firearm-related fatalities are suicides, it\u2019s no wonder that anti-gunners try to obscure the truth.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for them, it becomes easy to debunk their claims by simply pointing this fact out. That\u2019s why there\u2019s now a push not just to acknowledge this,\u00a0but to blame guns for those suicides<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to national health statistics, 24,432 Americans used guns to kill themselves in 2018, up from 19,392 in 2010.<\/p>\n

People who kill themselves in this way are usually those with ready access to firearms: gun owners and their family members. Gun owners are not more suicidal than people who don\u2019t own guns, but attempts with guns are more likely to be fatal.<\/p>\n

Now, nearly a year after the coronavirus pandemic began, unleashing a tide of economic dislocation and despair, experts are bracing for a rise in suicides. Gun sales have risen steadily since March, and as shutdowns aimed at containing the virus have disrupted lives and led to social isolation, studies have shown\u00a0an increase in anxiety<\/a>\u00a0and suicidal ideation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people are struggling right now,\u201d said Jennifer Stuber, an associate professor of social work who helped found the University of Washington\u2019s Forefront Suicide Prevention center. \u201cThe indicators are that a perfect storm is about to hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted that people who purchase guns to protect themselves from civil unrest and a possible rise in crime \u201cmay actually be incurring more potential risk in terms of harm that can come to their family.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

OK, let\u2019s break down the facts.<\/p>\n

First, that 24,432 suicides with a firearm? That accounts for just a tad over\u00a0half of all suicides<\/a>\u00a0in the country. It sounds to me like people are finding plenty of other ways to kill themselves\u00a0without\u00a0<\/em>firearms.<\/p>\n

Oh, but that\u2019s an increase since 2010, right? Sure. But\u00a0overall suicides are also up<\/a>\u00a0during that same period.<\/p>\n

Further, while firearms may be the most effective means for someone to take their own life, it\u2019s not the only effective means to do so. There are plenty of other ways to claim your own life and be pretty sure you\u2019re going to be successful. While guns might be more effective, we\u2019re talking about a couple of percentage points of different, which is practically statistical noise.<\/p>\n

In other words, guns aren\u2019t the problem.<\/p>\n

Suicide isn\u2019t a political issue, it\u2019s a mental health one. Just today I read a good friend lamenting a buddy of his from the Marine Corps who claimed his own life. The issue there wasn\u2019t access to firearms, but that so many who serve have ended up broken mentally and emotionally by what they endured.<\/p>\n

Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop trying to make this about guns and recognize that tens of thousands of people are still claiming their own lives with things that aren\u2019t firearms and instead focus on solutions that can help everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stop Blaming Guns For Suicides Nearly two-thirds of all firearm fatalities each year are the result of someone taking their own life. Anti-gunners routinely leave that part out when they\u2019d slinging numbers around because people don\u2019t view suicides the same way they do homicides or accidents. After all, someone commits suicide by making a conscious … 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":[29,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-safety","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61913","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=61913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61914,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61913\/revisions\/61914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}