It's important to remember that the majority of gun deaths are suicides.

It's also important to remember that any blocker between a potential suicide victim and the weapon of choice reduces rates greatly. A gun locked in a safe where the potential suicide knows the code - reduces rates.

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throw0101d 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> It's also important to remember that any blocker between a potential suicide victim and the weapon of choice reduces rates greatly. A gun locked in a safe where the potential suicide knows the code - reduces rates.

RAND found that minimum age requirements and child-access prevention laws reduced suicides and unintentional injuries/deaths and violent crime:

* https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/child-acce...

* https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/minimum-ag...

* https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy.html

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rolph 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/data.html

the data from CDC agrees with you, and agrees that a firearm is most common method.

but also indicates age correlate with freq of suicde by firearm.

guess who the least frequent group is, kids.

now that might fly in the face of stats, but suicide is an "intentional" thing. [that rides on the idea that you are competent to form intent when suicidal]

so yes if you keep your guns secure, and gun proof your kids to mitigate accidents that should improve things, for kids.

however take at least as much care for your grandparents, they are apparently at extreme risk, of forming intent and, acting especially grandpa.

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bombcar 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The point of the second part is that grandpa locking up his gun reduces his risk of suicide. Anything that adds a "checkpoint" that activates even some small other part of the brain seems to help.

	▲	rolph 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		yeah you got it, the reasons why it seems to be the better choice are somewhat glum. terminal illness with no quick relief in sight, an estate now the best contribution to be made vs impending medical expenses. it might work for spur of the moment almost reflex decisions, but its a different story when the choice is made over a few years, reinforced by physical reasons.

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hirvi74 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> however take at least as much care for your grandparents, they are apparently at extreme risk, of forming intent and, acting especially grandpa.

What if allowing suicide is taking care of one's grandparents? After all, if I was diagnosed with a awful condition like Alzheimer's, ALS, etc.. I am absolutely going out that way once I start having more bad days than good days.

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dlev_pika 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That’s why we have laws protecting end of life rights in Oregon - which are much preferred over millions of firearms in the hands of ‘rEsPoNsIbLe gun oWnErS’, impulsive and impaired decision making, and someone walking into a traumatic mess coming back home.

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mystraline 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Most of the rest of states use hospice as a way to kill people with morphine. Basically they give the patient as much as they want, and usually stops their heart.

Naturally, medically assisted suicide is illegal in most states. But its wink wink nudge nudge "pain management".

	▲	dlev_pika 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I hear you - as usual, people will do what they need to do in the way they can. Personally, I wish we collectively recognized that this ‘pain management’ is a disservice to all dealing with those situations, much like handing out medical marihuana cards to recreational users was for actual patients, or women addressing family planning issues in some less than acceptable settings. Alas…

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LorenPechtel 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah. We focus so much on suicide without sorting out whether it's temporary despair or declining health where there is no good answer.

We should be trying to help/prevent the former, for the latter I think we should only be trying to be sure they're not the former. But the data always lumps them and I get very suspicious when data lumps two very different cases.

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skylerwiernik 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Interesting. What causes this? Could it have to do with the type of person to keep a gun in a safe (has kids, is more cautious in general, etc) or have studies shown that this minor friction is actually enough?

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ceejayoz 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Suicide tends to be impulsive. Any friction, even brief, can give an opportunity to think twice.

	▲	bombcar 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That was the general conclusion as I recall it. Originally it was thought to be "someone else has the key" kind of things - which of course, does limit it - but even controlling for "I have to walk downstairs and find the key" reduces it.

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Barrin92 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

the Israeli military did a study about ~15 years ago where they looked at soldier suicide rates after they had enacted a policy of leaving the weapons at base over the weekend and if I recall correctly it cut the rate of suicides by 40-50%.

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alistairSH 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

And on the flip side, the US Sec Def recently allowed US soldiers to carry loaded weapons on base (when not in a role that required it, which was previously disallowed). I expect this will increase suicides on US military bases. All for some "rah rah, 2A, mah rights!!!" bullshit political posturing.

	▲	lamasery 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That policy has long been a kinda funny "gee, why don't they allow it if more 'good guys with guns' make us safer?" example. I guess at least this removes that bit of rhetorical inconsistency... at, guaranteed, a notable cost in lives.

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ajb 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The US Veteran's Affairs agency makes a free app to help with insomnia; it has all the usual advice that would apply to anyone - plus advising veterans not to keep a loaded gun by the bed, even if it makes them feel safer going to sleep.

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cucumber3732842 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I bet that has as much to do with where and when alcohol is consumed as it does guns.