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Looking at your stats, I'd have to conclude that suicide is a far bigger issue than the availability of firearms. If someone wants to kill themselves they can always find a way.
This turns out not to be the general case.
Easy access to a sure mean of killing yourself influences the statistics dramatically. Classic example of this effect was the UK changing from coal gas (deadly) to natural gas (much less so) for cooking. The people who would've previously walked to their kitchen, stuck their head in an oven and ended it all in a matter of minutes didn't go out to jump off bridges or drown in the river.
Suicide is a complex matter, but it is pretty well-established that for many, having the means right within your reach as the depression reaches its nadir is a contributing factor to completing a suicide attempt.
Easy access to a sure mean of killing yourself influences the statistics dramatically. Classic example of this effect was the UK changing from coal gas (deadly) to natural gas (much less so) for cooking. The people who would've previously walked to their kitchen, stuck their head in an oven and ended it all in a matter of minutes didn't go out to jump off bridges or drown in the river.
Suicide is a complex matter, but it is pretty well-established that for many, having the means right within your reach as the depression reaches its nadir is a contributing factor to completing a suicide attempt.
Reducing access to lethal means does not always reduce the overall suicide rate. For example, restricting a low-lethality method or a method infrequently used may not make a detectable difference in the suicide rate. Restricting a very low-lethality method-if it results in attempters substituting a higher-lethality method-could in fact increase the overall suicide rate. Means reduction doesn’t change the underlying suicidal impulse or necessarily reduce attempts: rather, it saves lives by reducing the lethality of attempts
Cops shoot themselves....do you consider them fully trained?
Does that happen as frequently as the instances being discussed in this thread? What happens to a police officer who accidentally fires their weapon?
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