Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Alternatives to Guns For Suicide

The gun confisication extremists are again counting suicides in the incredible gun death toll to scare people, arguing that without guns, the 2/3 of gun deaths that are suicides would not happen, because guns are so much more certain.  From Gary Kleck's book Point Blank table 6.2 is a list of suicide methods and how often they are fatal:

 
method fatality %
shooting 84.7
hanging 80.0
CO exhaust 77.0
drowning 75.0
jumping/impact 42.3
poisoning  14.5
non-CO gases 13.4
drugs 11.8
cutting/stabbing 4.9

 
As you can see ropes are readily available as is car exhaust.

2 comments:

  1. People who decide to do it won't be deterred easily. A friend of mine investigated the suicide of an old man. The old boy had tried to shoot himself with a .22 rifle, but the action was dirty and he had a light strike, which was still on his workbench. He cleaned the rifle and succeeded on the next try.

    Another acquaintance told me of a suicide where the victim tied his rope to a doorknob, climbed on a stepstool on the other side of the door, put the rope around his neck and stepped of his support.

    Desperate people need help, and they will find a way to end their lives if they don't get it.

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  2. I was a paramedic and firefighter for 28 years and dealt with a lot of suicides and attempts. I am still amazed at how many people chose hanging and their 100% success rate. We had a couple of shooters survive and there would have been one more if trauma centers existed at the time. True Blue Sam's conclusion is exactly right.

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