4 ms·

Exactly. When Australia changed their gun laws, the suicide rate went down by 65%.

• refurb 11y ago
  Yet Japan has one of the highest suicide rates and almost no gun ownership! Also, prior to enacting gun control, Australia's non-firearm suicide rate doubled (1980-1996) while firearm suicide was cut in half. Not sure there is any correlation.
  • SteveLAnderson 11y ago
    You may not be sure, but the researchers that study this subject are sure - http://andrewleigh.org/pdf/GunBuyback_Panel.pdf http://andrewleigh.org/pdf/GunBuyback_Panel.pdf And for the US - http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2013/12/gun_ownership_causes_higher_suicide_rates_study_shows.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2013/1...
    • refurb 11y ago
      It's not just me, it's other researchers as well.[1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Australia#Measuring_the_effects_of_firearms_laws_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Australia#Measurin... "The results of these tests suggest that the NFA did not have any large effects on reducing firearm homicide or suicide rates."[61]" "The implemented restrictions may not be responsible for the observed reductions in firearms suicide. Data suggest that a change in social and cultural attitudes could have contributed to the shift in method preference.[60]" I wouldn't assume that it's settled.
      • SteveLAnderson 11y ago
        The paper I linked to discussed both of those papers and corrects errors made in them.
        • refurb 11y ago
          Care to point it out? The table I'm looking at says firearm suicides dropped by 50% prior to the gun buyback. I'd argue the decrease in overall suicides is a general trend happened to coincide with the gun buyback.