As military suicides rise, focus shifts to private guns

[SuperiorDG]

Okay, it has been shown that suicide rates don't change with the rate of guns in our population, Gary Kleck. But somehow the government thinks this will work. This maybe a very slippery road to go down.

As military suicides rise, focus shifts to private guns


"With nearly half of all suicides in the military having been committed with privately owned firearms, the Pentagon and Congress are moving to establish policies intended to separate at-risk service members from their personal weapons. The issue is a thorny one for the Pentagon, with gun-rights advocates and many service members fiercely opposing any policies that could be construed as limiting the private ownership of firearms.
But with suicides continuing to rise this year, senior Defense Department officials are developing a suicide prevention campaign that will encourage friends and families of potentially suicidal service members to safely store or voluntarily remove personal firearms from their homes.
"This is not about authoritarian regulation," Dr. Jonathan Woodson, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said in an interview. "It is about the spouse understanding warning signs and, if there are firearms in the home, responsibly separating the individual at risk from the firearm.""

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[rockhound]

while the loss of our servicemen is a terrible thing, what are the unintended consequences of this action.

i think this needs to be thought through before knee jerking into a useless action and potentially worse outcome.

the first opportunity to whittle away at the 2nd the left will jump on it,

no one with mental issues should own a firearm, ok I am fine with that, no felons ok i am fine with that, where do you draw the final line where it is ok to own a firearm.

[mephistopheles]

Suicides in general are on the rise, it has surpassed auto crashes as the number one cause of death in the U.S. I know several people who have taken themselves out, including my only brother

The whole situation is f***ed

[Teufelhund]

Good plan; they really thought this one through. I'm sure someone intent on suicide won't be able to think of any other way to do it.

[Ridge]

Dealing with emotional trauma and mental health is hard and expensive. Let's just try to ban one of the many ways they can cause harm instead...

[Ronin13]

Good plan; they really thought this one through. I'm sure someone intent on suicide won't be able to think of any other way to do it.

Yep! He gets it! Look at NY- When I was stationed there, for my 3 years at that base (well, one was in Afghanistan) the suicide statistics showed only 1 in 9 suicides were committed with a firearm. Granted, NY has some of the worst firearms laws ever (worst being most restrictive). If someone wants to end their life they'll probably choose the easiest way possible... on occasion that way is not a gun.

[jerrymrc]

We were just talking about this subject in another forum the other day.

[ford_muscle1]

Maybe instead of worrying about our guns maybe the ARMY should stop treating people who seek help for combat trauma like s*#t. Maybe that's a place to start. You will send me to combat multiple times to see crap no one in their right mind should see or do and we have loaded weapons so they could just as easily do it down range as back home and I've seen the aftermath of it happening downrange and at home but let's blame privately owned weapons not the military's inadequacy to help it's troop's without their command treating them bad. Just my opinion and experience.

[Scanker19]

Maybe instead of worrying about our guns maybe the ARMY should stop treating people who seek help for combat trauma like s*#t. Maybe that's a place to start. You will send me to combat multiple times to see crap no one in their right mind should see or do and we have loaded weapons so they could just as easily do it down range as back home and I've seen the aftermath of it happening downrange and at home but let's blame privately owned weapons not the military's inadequacy to help it's troop's without their command treating them bad. Just my opinion and experience.

At ease that common sense.

[rockhound]

Good plan; they really thought this one through. I'm sure someone intent on suicide won't be able to think of any other way to do it.

i was thinking more along the lines of who or what will be their next target if they can't have access to the firearm, the suicide will be horrible, but what is next on the list