Just Shoot Me – Add-On to Part II

This afternoon I sat myself down to write the third and final installment in my Guns In America series — where I offer all the answers — and came across more of my notes on suicide in America that I forgot to add in Part II. I will be incorporating this additional information into Part II but if you’ve already read that post, you wouldn’t know about this amendment. So, here it is.

Suicide by firearm is the most lethal. The fatality rate of suicide attempts using a firearm is 83%. That means, for every 100 people who attempt suicide by firearm, 85% of them succeed and die. Other suicide methods and their fatality rates include: Drowning/Submersion (66%); Suffocation/Hanging (61%); Poison by Gas (42%); Jumping (35%) and Drug/Poison Ingestion (2%).

In 2017, an article was published by abc7news.com that told the story of two men who had (separately, one in 1985 and one in 2000) jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge in an attempt to kill themselves. By some miracle, both men survived. The two men today tell of the immediate regret they felt the instant their fingertips left the bridge railing.

With the exception of suicide by either firearm or jumping, in most methods of suicide, a person has the ability to abort mid-attempt. Consider these: overdose, cutting, CO poisoning, and hanging/suffocation. These methods offer an opportunity for rescue or change of heart. Time to call 911 and say, “Help me.” Time to feel remorse, decide to live. When you jump off a bridge, there is no “mid-attempt.” The same is true when you try to kill yourself with a gun. Once the trigger is pulled, there is no going back. Bang! You’re dead.

Over 80% of child firearm suicides involved a gun belonging to a family member.

4.6 million American children live in households with at least one loaded, unlocked firearm.

It’s been reported that locking up unloaded household guns securely or storing a firearm separate from its ammunition, can reduce the risk of suicide and unintentional firearm injuries among children and teens up to 85%

It’s the people who die from self-inflicted gunshots that we have the ability to save. By restricting their access to guns. A meta-analysis of 14 different scientific studies concluded that having access to a firearm triples a person’s risk of death by suicide – this elevated risk applies to the gun owner and everyone else in the household.