You’re right in that we don’t have to guess. Suicide rates in some countries with strict gun control have rates at a par with or far higher than the US. See Germany, Japan, France, Norway,Ireland. So the data doesn’t support the idea that suicide is related to the availability of firearms. It is related to culture. A lot of good papers on this.
It does not diminish however, the responsibility to minimize the availability of weapons to those at risk. It does illustrate however, that if a person is intent on suicide, they will find the means. There was a streak of suicides at my campus involving folks jumping off a building, the administration ended up putting up barriers vice simply stating that if they didn’t kill themselves there they’d just do it somewhere else.
Not so fast. You’re comparing different cultures and their suicide rates, and that leaves a lot of variables open.
The cultures compared by the Harvard Study were all American: the rate of successful suicide attempt is higher in areas where gun ownership is higher. Wondering if this meant perhaps that people in rural areas are both more likely to own guns and more likely to commit suicide, but without a direct causal ratio, this was investigated. It would seem that mere gun ownership is the strongest link, not other situational factors. People in rural areas are not more prone to depression or suicidal thoughts. The rates of depression, substance use problems, and suicidal thoughts are not substantially different in homes with and without guns, but the rate of suicide is higher in the homes with guns.
In order to conclude that “if a person is intent on suicide, they will find the means”, you have to measure whether those who have suicidal thoughts who don’t kill themselves have differences in setting to those who have suicidal thoughts and DO kill themselves. When it is possible to control for other variables, having a gun in the home is an added risk factor.
Suicides in the 15 U.S. States with the Highest vs. the 6 U.S. States with the Lowest Average Household Gun Ownership (2000-2002)
Gun Density High-Gun States Low-Gun States
Population 39 million 40 million
Household Gun Ownership 47% 15%
Firearm Suicide 9,749 2,606
Non-Firearm Suicide 5,060 5,446
Total Suicide 14,809 8,052
Using these data as an example, yes, when there are fewer guns, there are more per-capita non-firearm suicides. People with a will do sometimes find a way. Still, the number who find a way are by no means the majority, because the difference in total suicides is substantial. Sometimes, when you want to commit suicide but you don’t happen to have a gun around, you don’t get up the gumption to go find a tall building. You let the impulse pass, and you live.
I also believe that it is a good idea to put a fence up whenever an area becomes a “popular” place to commit suicide. People aren’t at their most creative or their most persistent when they’re depressed, after all. If the first way someone can think of to commit suicide isn’t available, sometimes the person just gives up the idea. The more no-brainer ways to commit suicide that can be eliminated, then, the better.
This is one reason I think it a good idea to publicize that attempting suicide, no matter how you try to do it, leaves you at risk of harming yourself permanently without killing yourself. I know a doctor, for instance, who sees different behavior in patients when he reminds them that their bad diet may not kill them young, but might leave them unable to move half of their body for the last ten years of their lives. There are things people fear more than death itself, and permanent disability can be one of them.
A depressed person who believes themselves the kind of worthless person who botches everything might not consider suicide if he or she is confronted with the knowledge that even a suicide can be botched, and that an attempted suicide can leave a person far worse off than before. Suicide is something people treat as a way to get out of their troubles, so realizing that attempting suicide is far from a no-lose proposition, even when a gun is used, is worth impressing upon people. It could activate a pessimism that could save them from death or serious and long-term self-harm.
However, those who have weapons can get the gold from those who don’t.
If you’re going to stockpile guns and ammo, though, you may as well stockpile gold, too. Since you’ll be capable of defending concentrated durable wealth in the form of gold, there is every reason to believe you’d find a use for it.
)