Goodbye to some of you

DaveE · 07-01-2008, 06:25 AM

More than half firearm deaths are suicides

ATLANTA, Georgia, (AP) -- 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.

The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves.

1 of 2 Suicides accounted for 55 percent 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 percent of gun deaths. Accidents accounted for 3 percent. The remaining 2 percent 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.............

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/30/guns.suicides.ap/index.html

lendaddy · 07-01-2008, 06:29 AM

So you're asking us for a gun?

kach22i · kach22i's Garage

From the article:

Quote:

More than 90 percent of suicide attempts using guns are successful, while the success rate for jumping from high places was 34 percent. The success rate for drug overdose was 2 percent, the brief said, citing studies.

Guns are good at one thing, that's for sure.

Guns are a complex issue, many pros and cons.

All it took was one nut threatening me and my wife to push me into gun ownership.

Quote:

Gary Kleck, a researcher at Florida State University's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, estimates there are more than 1 million incidents each year in which firearms are used to prevent an actual or threatened criminal attack.

Quote:

the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005

31,000/1,000,000 x 100 = 3.1%

Danny_Ocean · 07-01-2008, 06:34 AM

Day late, dollar short:

Gun owners - DIY

Danny_Ocean · 07-01-2008, 06:36 AM

What's that saying about "statistics"?

Gun owners are the happiest people in the US
Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, April 21, 2008 2:40 PM |
The Wall Street Journal reports that gun-clingers are not, in fact, bitter.
According to the 2006 General Social Survey, which has tracked gun ownership since 1973, 34% of American homes have guns in them. This statistic is sure to surprise many people in cities like San Francisco – as it did me when I first encountered it. (Growing up in Seattle, I knew nobody who owned a gun.)
Who are all these gun owners? Are they the uneducated poor, left behind? It turns out they have the same level of formal education as nongun owners, on average. Furthermore, they earn 32% more per year than nonowners. Americans with guns are neither a small nor downtrodden group.

Nor are they "bitter." In 2006, 36% of gun owners said they were "very happy," while 9% were "not too happy." Meanwhile, only 30% of people without guns were very happy, and 16% were not too happy.

In 1996, gun owners spent about 15% less of their time than nonowners feeling "outraged at something somebody had done." It's easy enough in certain precincts to caricature armed Americans as an angry and miserable fringe group. But it just isn't true. The data say that the people in the approximately 40 million American households with guns are generally happier than those people in households that don't have guns.

The gun-owning happiness gap exists on both sides of the political aisle. Gun-owning Republicans are more likely than nonowning Republicans to be very happy (46% to 37%). Democrats with guns are slightly likelier than Democrats without guns to be very happy as well (32% to 29%). Similarly, holding income constant, one still finds that gun owners are happiest.

tabs · 07-01-2008, 06:43 AM

How interesting it is that Liberals want to save everybody in the world from themselves. That is at the heart of this thread. Very simply you cannot save everyone from themselves. There are roughly 5% to 7% of ANY population that are bent on self destruction whether it be alcohol, drugs or other forms of bad behavior. Ben Franklin over 200 years ago said that 90% of all men kill themselves in one way or another.

scottmandue · 07-01-2008, 06:50 AM

If people would follow the simple instructions that come with any gun (that I have bought) this problem could be avoided.

Such as:

1. Put a lock on your gun, my new shotgun came with a factory trigger lock.

2. Store guns and ammo in separate locations.

Those are just two of the many regulations you will be taught at any gun safety class or read in most gun owners manuals.

Racerbvd · Racerbvd's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by lendaddy

So you're asking us for a gun?

Give him one, I'm tired of these guys trying to tell me how to live my life & restrict my rights!!!

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

Who cares.

Oregon is the only state I'm aware of with anything even remotely resembling a common sense approach to this issue. If a person decides it's their time, I don't know why they shouldn't have quick, easy, painless methods available to them.

I'd eat a bullet any day versus the alternative of having to linger on indefinitely as a helpless, feeble, sick, incontinent individual that is a drain on my surviving relatives/friends. If it ever got to that point, I'd look for an exit too.

It's the same issue as abortion - if humane, safe, compassionate alternatives are not available, people will go to the violent, bloody, messy, complicated ones. People committing suicide by eating bullets/shotgun shells is directly analogous to "back alley" abortions. Making something illegal (especially for some silly pseudo-moralistic reason) does not mean people stop doing it. It means they simply look for alternatives to accomplish the same objective - which are often far more gruesome and distasteful than the thing the pseudo-moralists were trying to eliminate in the first place. . .

cashflyer · 07-01-2008, 07:16 AM

Since people know cigarette smoking causes cancer, and yet they still smoke, I will argue that cigarette smokers are all committing suicide. How do the number of cigarette related suicides compare to the number of gun related suicides?

Cigarette smoking causes health problems in 100% of habitual smokers.
What percentage of firearms owners have never been shot?

"Between 40 and 50% of all statistics are made-up."
- American Journal of Statistics

widgeon13 · 07-01-2008, 07:19 AM

There's a lot of love in this thread, i can feel it through my keyboard.

DaveE · 07-01-2008, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

Give him one, I'm tired of these guys trying to tell me how to live my life & restrict my rights!!!

I'm not telling you how to do anything. I offered no opinion, just gave you something to read. You have every right to off yourself whenever you choose as far as I'm concerned.

lendaddy · 07-01-2008, 07:54 AM

Racerbvd · Racerbvd's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveE

I'm not telling you how to do anything. I offered no opinion, just gave you something to read. You have every right to off yourself whenever you choose as far as I'm concerned.

I was offering you one, if I was going to off myself, it will be with old age & heavy drinking

widgeon13 · 07-01-2008, 08:16 AM

And we have a request from a friend in Bellwood, PA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMPl_B7cWQU

Enjoy!

DaveE · 07-01-2008, 08:38 AM

Go after me all you want. I heard this on CNN this morning and found it interesting. Maybe the CDC is distorting facts. I don't know. Just found it interesting.

Danny_Ocean · 07-01-2008, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by widgeon13

And we have a request from a friend in Bellwood, PA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMPl_B7cWQU

Enjoy!

What kind of loser can't spell "loser"?

The Gaijin · 07-01-2008, 08:42 AM

Not to make light of suicide - but if people are going to do it - they are going to do it. Sweden, Japan and many other places with no guns have high suicide rates. Drunks in cars with a deathwish are our biggest suicide problem - as they are more likely to hurt others..

Mule · 07-01-2008, 08:53 AM

Simple logic!

1. Lefties are far too smart & sophisticated to own a handgun
2. Brain trust leftie, DaveE has data that gun ownership causes death
3. Guns will cause the death of conservatives at a much higher rate than lefties
4. Lefties never lie
5. Lefties are concerned about me

I feel so much better now!

Danny_Ocean · 08:58 AM

I'll bet this woman wished she had a gun in the moments before she was killed (on the front steps of the police station):

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbday0701sbjul01,0,2276821.story