I’m interested in discussing real solutions. Banning guns is equivalent to banning cars because drunks kill more people in the US every year than non-suicide gun violence does (CDC sourced).
@Origami_Ed why disregard suicides? they are still dead
@ibid Because the person who commits suicide would do so whether a gun is available or not. Suicide is also a very different issue from using guns in violent outreach.
@Origami_Ed that is factually incorrect. the fatality rate of gun suicides is over 80% while the overall suicide fatality rate is around 4%
@Origami_Ed but if they aren't and just suffering a low point not having access to a gun makes it a lot more likely that they would survive. in any case ignoring certain deaths because they are inconvenient isn't really the way to go about things
@ibid What you are talking about is suicidal ideation, not the same thing as suicidal attempt. A person that has already decided to end their life will probably succeed. In the case of the people I knew. Only one showed public ideation and we tried to get him help. The others, well, the what ifs never end.
@ibid Oh, and to suggest I would "ignore" deaths that are "inconvenient" is down right insulting. I removed them to normalize the data for analysis or like conditions. I have a strong background in statistical analysis and try to make all datasets a comparable as possible. This would stay more civil is people would ask WHY I removed a data subset instead of ASSUMING!
@ibid I wasn't commenting on the success rates, just that if a person is intent to commit suicide, the tool isn't really relevant. I have lost several people to suicide in my life and none of them used a gun.