5 ms·

I'm curious what could be done to reduce firearms suicides (and even better reduce overall successful suicides, and ideally suicide attempts.)

by rdl 11y ago

ryan-allen 11y ago
Better social services? Suicide, mental health and poverty all go together I think. If you want to improve suicide rates I would probably start there, though I'm no expert so I could be wrong.
- FireBeyond 11y ago
  Funnily enough, there's definitely a correlation between the political ideologies that are heavily against firearm regulation and those who think that we spend too much, already on mental health and poverty. And then they throw their arms up and say "what more could we do?!?"
masonic 11y ago
Why the concern only about gun homicide? Does suicide get somehow worse when done with a gun as opposed to stepping in front of an Amtrak train?
- rdl 11y ago
  Mainly it's that firearms suicides tend to be much more effective. It's a generally effective technique and can be done "privately" (unlike, say, jumping off a tall building or waiting for an inevitably-delayed Amtrak train) I don't think it is always a bad decision, either -- if someone is 55 and finds out there's a solid diagnosis of a painful fatal illness, there might be a point where it's a reasonable choice (I'd personally Alcor, but...). And I'd certainly prefer if spree killers just killed themselves privately.
- rat87 11y ago
  I think some research suggests that lack of easy immediate access to effective methods of suicide like guns can decrease suicide rates. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/struck-living/201012/can-obstacle-prevent-suicide https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/struck-living/201012/ca... Edit: If a lot of people are committing suicide by train guard rails and similar measures might help.
Nadya 11y ago
Try to work against the stigma of people who seek mental health care. It's a great way to risk your job, isolate yourself from friends/family who find out you've been seeking help, further depression, become addicted to antidepressants, or financially ruin yourself. Sometimes all of the above. Far too many stories of people who sought help and ended up losing their jobs, being placed on 51/50 holds, or worse. I found out the hard way. If I ever regress, I'll never call the suicide hotline again. I wasn't yet set on acting upon it but called to have someone to talk to. Fucked myself for 2 years and for most of those 2 years my thoughts of suicide and level of depression were multitudes worse than before I had called.
- brbsix 11y ago
  It's the same with compulsive issues (substance, sexual, or otherwise). People would much rather not know about these things, professionals included. Bringing them up is a great way to alienate yourself.
rat87 11y ago
Making it harder to get guns might be one thing that could help. I think there's been some research showing that ease of suicide can affect suicide rates. And guns are more effective at actually killing yourself. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC478945/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC478945/ this talks about a fall in suicides due to a switch from coal gas ovens to natural gas in Hreat Britain. --- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21034205 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21034205 > The use of firearms is a common means of suicide. We examined the effect of a policy change in the Israeli Defense Forces reducing adolescents' access to firearms on rates of suicide. Following the policy change, suicide rates decreased significantly by 40%. Most of this decrease was due to decrease in suicide using firearms over the weekend. There were no significant changes in rates of suicide during weekdays. Decreasing access to firearms significantly decreases rates of suicide among adolescents. The results of this study illustrate the ability of a relatively simple change in policy to have a major impact on suicide rates. by adolescents I think they mean 18,19 (possibly 20,21) year olds in the Army.
- rdl 11y ago
  Yeah, reluctantly I'd have to agree. I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice 2A for all to reduce suicide in some (since it's ultimately a personal choice), but I wonder if there are other solutions which could be voluntary to reduce it. Like, offsite storage being a cheap/subsidized/available default, or a "time lock" for non-self-defense firearms, or even something silly like posting "do not kill yourself" signs on safes. Drugs/alcohol + depression + guns seem like a particularly bad combination, so one thing I've been thinking about is a gun safe which let the user voluntarily set a time-lock in the future before drinking or whatever.

I'm curious what could be done to reduce firearms suicides (and even better reduce overall successful suicides, and ideally suicide attempts.)

by rdl 11y ago

I'm curious what could be done to reduce firearms suicides (and even better reduce overall successful suicides, and ideally suicide attempts.)

ryan-allen 11y ago

Better social services? Suicide, mental health and poverty all go together I think. If you want to improve suicide rates I would probably start there, though I'm no expert so I could be wrong.

FireBeyond 11y ago
Funnily enough, there's definitely a correlation between the political ideologies that are heavily against firearm regulation and those who think that we spend too much, already on mental health and poverty. And then they throw their arms up and say "what more could we do?!?"

masonic 11y ago

Why the concern only about gun homicide? Does suicide get somehow worse when done with a gun as opposed to stepping in front of an Amtrak train?

rdl 11y ago
Mainly it's that firearms suicides tend to be much more effective. It's a generally effective technique and can be done "privately" (unlike, say, jumping off a tall building or waiting for an inevitably-delayed Amtrak train) I don't think it is always a bad decision, either -- if someone is 55 and finds out there's a solid diagnosis of a painful fatal illness, there might be a point where it's a reasonable choice (I'd personally Alcor, but...). And I'd certainly prefer if spree killers just killed themselves privately.
rat87 11y ago
I think some research suggests that lack of easy immediate access to effective methods of suicide like guns can decrease suicide rates. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/struck-living/201012/can-obstacle-prevent-suicide https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/struck-living/201012/ca... Edit: If a lot of people are committing suicide by train guard rails and similar measures might help.

Nadya 11y ago

Try to work against the stigma of people who seek mental health care. It's a great way to risk your job, isolate yourself from friends/family who find out you've been seeking help, further depression, become addicted to antidepressants, or financially ruin yourself. Sometimes all of the above. Far too many stories of people who sought help and ended up losing their jobs, being placed on 51/50 holds, or worse. I found out the hard way. If I ever regress, I'll never call the suicide hotline again. I wasn't yet set on acting upon it but called to have someone to talk to. Fucked myself for 2 years and for most of those 2 years my thoughts of suicide and level of depression were multitudes worse than before I had called.

brbsix 11y ago
It's the same with compulsive issues (substance, sexual, or otherwise). People would much rather not know about these things, professionals included. Bringing them up is a great way to alienate yourself.

rat87 11y ago

Making it harder to get guns might be one thing that could help. I think there's been some research showing that ease of suicide can affect suicide rates. And guns are more effective at actually killing yourself. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC478945/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC478945/ this talks about a fall in suicides due to a switch from coal gas ovens to natural gas in Hreat Britain. --- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21034205 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21034205 > The use of firearms is a common means of suicide. We examined the effect of a policy change in the Israeli Defense Forces reducing adolescents' access to firearms on rates of suicide. Following the policy change, suicide rates decreased significantly by 40%. Most of this decrease was due to decrease in suicide using firearms over the weekend. There were no significant changes in rates of suicide during weekdays. Decreasing access to firearms significantly decreases rates of suicide among adolescents. The results of this study illustrate the ability of a relatively simple change in policy to have a major impact on suicide rates. by adolescents I think they mean 18,19 (possibly 20,21) year olds in the Army.

rdl 11y ago
Yeah, reluctantly I'd have to agree. I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice 2A for all to reduce suicide in some (since it's ultimately a personal choice), but I wonder if there are other solutions which could be voluntary to reduce it. Like, offsite storage being a cheap/subsidized/available default, or a "time lock" for non-self-defense firearms, or even something silly like posting "do not kill yourself" signs on safes. Drugs/alcohol + depression + guns seem like a particularly bad combination, so one thing I've been thinking about is a gun safe which let the user voluntarily set a time-lock in the future before drinking or whatever.