Would banning firearms reduce murder and suicide?

I searched and didn't find this anywhere else. It's a peer-reviewed Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy study.

It shows how the mantra "more guns equal more death and less guns equal less death" doesn't muster scrutiny.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol30_No2_KatesMauseronline.pdf

 

The price of freedom.

- - - Updated - - -

The price of freedom.

 

It would impact suicides - With the immediacy of shooting yourself removed some people faced with the need to plan may reflect and talk themselves out of it. But if someone is absolutely set on killing themselves they will find a way

- - - Updated - - -

It would impact suicides - With the immediacy of shooting yourself removed some people faced with the need to plan may reflect and talk themselves out of it. But if someone is absolutely set on killing themselves they will find a way

 

It would impact suicides only in the method used but there is no data that shows it impacts the numbers committing suicide.

 

Guns make suicide very easy... it is also probably pretty painless I would imagine.

I have a special place in hell for people who keep firearms around when a family member is depressed with thoughts of suicide. Rick Warren should be ashamed of himself for not making firearms available. I would say he is just as low as Adam Lanza's mother...

 

You are assuming that the kid would not have killed himself anyway. You are trying to shift blame. You were not there or knew what was going on.

- - - Updated - - -

You are assuming that the kid would not have killed himself anyway. You are trying to shift blame. You were not there or knew what was going on.

 

A loaded handgun does not jump into a shooters hand. Rick Warren wrote in an email that he son had been plagued by depression. Firearms make suicide very easy, it is no wonder they are the prime choice. People who own firearms should have some personality responsibility with them if they have a family member who has suicidal thoughts.

 

pills make suicide easier, hanging makes suicide easier, poison and car exhaust make suicide easier....seems to me it's not the method but that's just me

 

If you try and commit suicide with pills, you more then likely will live and have a miserable experience... at least judging from the situations I have seen. Poisons are hard to get and and pretty regulated. Seen a handful go that way. I have never seen anyone commit suicide by car exhaust or hanging. I would suspect hanging might be present in jails/prisons. However there is not enough hands and toes to count all the suicides by firearms I have experienced in my career.

I am taking since you never addressed personal responsibility of a firearm owner when they have a family member or someone close with suicidal thoughts locking up or securing their weapons, that you are not safe with firearms. You might consider a remedial gun safety class, if you are not safe with a firearm you could end up hurt or worst...

 

Thought crimes are not thought crimes yet. Why should a person with a firearm be responsible about other peoples thoughts? Do the firearm owners have special mind reading powers that come with owning a firearm?

 

And from my experience they are quite often successful so I am assuming since you are for more pill control? I am taking since you never addressed personal responsibility of a pill owner that you are not safe with pills?

Poisons are quite easy to obtain and less regulated than weapons. Have read about people going that way but irregardless I'm sure since you never addressed personal responsibility of a poison ownership you are not safe with poisons.

I have seen both and read of many occurrences, I am taking since you never addressed personal responsibility of a car or rope owner that you are not safe with either

And outside of above mentioned places

And this means what?

you're "taking is way off base eh!
Suicide involves way more than methodology, it involves age, race, sex, mental health of said victims. To claim that some sort of restrictions on a type of instrument would be preventive of a suicidal individual is simplistic and naïve.
http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/content/30/1/133.full
Good luck with your premise though LOL

 

Don't put your faith in "professional stamps". Usually, when media attention makes a product bad, the affected companies will begin a variety of public relations strategies to mitigate the damage, including buying professional studies clearing their products of questionable risk. The same thing was done for cigarettes and tobacco.

But, if I had to take a guess, yes, taking away guns would reduce the amount of gun-related fatalities. Kind of like the same way reducing the amount of pointy objects in a prison or insane asylum reduces the fatalities/injuries occurring from such. That said, simply because guns happen to be the method of choice for these fairly rare occurrences, it should not be used to justify unduly strict gun control methods that serve more to impede gun ownership than prevent gun-related crimes from happening.

 

Oh don't worry, I read everything with a grain of skepticism and a dose of reality. With that said, it seems to jive with other things I've read and studied on the subject.

I have a thread I started titled The Early 60's. No one has a good explanation for the statistics I put forth and the why of it. IMV, it tends to confirm that guns aren't the issue and taking them away won't solve the problem or lessen violent crime.

 

These college reports are nothing more than guesses derived from theoretical computational analysis. It's an educated guess, but a guess as definitive as research into what would society be like if people breathed water. Certainly, less guns will mean less gun violence, but I can't say whether there will be an increase or decrease in general violence with the removal of guns. Usually, guns are insignificant contributors to the level of violence, just the way that violence is carried out. One of the concrete reasons for a rise or fall in general violence is the economic, social, and political situation of the society. Crime rises where prosperity plummets. It would probably be better for the people who are so centered on gun control to worry more about economic and political control.

 

I am sorry I didn't read your links. I am only going to address one part of your post. You mention reading about suicides, I don't have to read about them because of my career in healthcare. If I
could bring you to my job for a month or two, you would change your views about methods used.

 

If you had a family member living with you, would you keep a loaded weapon in the house? Yes or No.

 

I have been a EMT and saw many suicide attempts none with a gun. the most common was try to OD and slash the wrists. The most common way to succeed was to jump off the local bridge.
If guns where the reason so many are able to commit suicide then why do countries that have very strict gun laws as in gun banning have higher suicide rates?

 

Yes i would they would know how to use it and be able to defend themselves if needed against a criminal as people do hundreds of thousands of times every year

 

Only Americans believe that sort of nonsense. Countries without guns readily available have hugely lower murder rates. Suicide is a different question: get rid of the vicious 'pro-life' nutters and such and build up the Samaritans to help there.

 

Being your EMT, I am not surprised about the slitting of wrists actually. I have encountered that too, however most survived their attempt, same as with pills. I have not encountered anyone who has survived a suicide attempt with a firearm. I am sure there are some that have, but I have not encountered them.

 

I meant to write a suicidal family member....

- - - Updated - - -

I meant to write a suicidal family member....

 

Redirect. You are proposing punishing someone for the actions and thoughts of another. So, question still stands: Why should a person with a firearm be responsible about other peoples thoughts?

 

No need, I've been in law enforcement for many years, accidents, suicides, seen plenty....doesn't change my mind. Dead is Dead and all are tragic. Kids in car accidents are the worst. OH should we ban cars by your logic?

 

In Hong Kong its very hard to get a gun. The balcony is just a few steps away, and then a very long one to the sidewalk.

 

Banning firearms would reduce the murder and suicide rates, but not by very much. Much of this gun violence involves shoot-outs between rival criminal youth gangs in bad minority neighborhoods. I would also suspect that banning firearms would also increase the number of rapes by a small extent.

In some situations, such as civil unrest during a disaster, the absence of firearms would likely lead to an increase in the murder rate. Firearms can allow individual members of the community some potential measure of self sufficiency in defending themsleves and their community in situations where there is inadequate protection from professional law enforcement.