"Colorado Gun Shop Project": NPR story on Colorado Gun Shops Work Together To Prevent Suicides

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Originally Posted by DenverGP

man, the tinfoil is pretty thick around here....

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Took me 10 seconds on Google. Hundreds of similar OpEds/opinions from all over.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/colleen-ge...ms-of-suicide/

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Does ownership of a lethal weapon ever truly outweigh the life of a person? It is heartbreaking to see people dying from guns every day. And it’s a tragedy that suicide related gun deaths are still hidden, under cover. It’s a tragedy.

[snip]

In 2013 alone, guns were responsible for 21,000 suicides and 11,000 homicides. At what point is it enough? We can’t keep living like this. We can’t keep pretending that guns aren’t an issue, or that suicide cannot be prevented.

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The attempt to conflate GUN!suicide with GUN! violence has been years in the making. This is how the antis got the to the "more people die from guns than cars" stat.

Denverite article following up with Bristlecone

http://www.denverite.com/gun-deaths-...-change-15368/

I bet you'd have a lot less suicides if you took away bills, taxes and politicians. Gun is the tool, not the reason. Plenty of tools out there so focus on the reason.

I don't understand why suicide is in and of itself a bad thing. I get that it can deeply hurt people who care about the person, but why does society at large care? Because we lost another taxpayer / cog in the machine? People wax poetic about how merciful Oregon is for allowing physician-assisted suicide, but we bemoan people who take their own life without paying a doctor to do it for them.

I have no religious background so maybe I'm missing something from that angle.

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Originally Posted by Rumline

I don't understand why suicide is in and of itself a bad thing. I get that it can deeply hurt people who care about the person, but why does society at large care? Because we lost another taxpayer / cog in the machine? People wax poetic about how merciful Oregon is for allowing physician-assisted suicide, but we bemoan people who take their own life without paying a doctor to do it for them.

I have no religious background so maybe I'm missing something from that angle.

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People who seek a permanent solution to a temporary problem is very different than those that choose a permanent solution to a permanent problem.

But that's my point: some suicides are "OK" and some are "not OK" yet they all get lumped together for the purpose of advancing social agendas. Where you/we draw the line is debated, but why should society get involved in the first place, deciding which ones are allowed and which ones are not allowed? What is the compelling state interest in preventing all suicides?

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Originally Posted by Rumline

But that's my point: some suicides are "OK" and some are "not OK" yet they all get lumped together for the purpose of advancing social agendas. Where you/we draw the line is debated, but why should society get involved in the first place, deciding which ones are allowed and which ones are not allowed? What is the compelling state interest in preventing all suicides?

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Well, the tides are shifting when it comes to right to die scenarios, those with terminal conditions. The state gets brought into that one because it involves medical professionals. These instances aren't really the focus of programs like these.

The other group of suicides is far less contentious, they should be stopped. 22 vets killing themselves each day due to lack of proper care is a real issue. We SHOULD care about these. What we can't do is focus on banning the tool used in these tragedies because that still doesn't fix the underlying issue. Giving family and friends to tools to recognize some of these situations isn't a bad thing. Doing it in a way that focuses on individual action as opposed to blanket bans is a good start.

None of the gun-shop supported measures involve anything passing any new laws, or involve taking away anyone's rights. We all encourage responsible gun ownership, and in some cases, responsible ownership must involve thinking about possibly suicidal family members getting a hold of legally owned guns.

This "Gun Shop Project" doesn't attempt to make any gun-grabber claims that firearms cause suicide. I commend the gun shops involved in this, and will continue to support them with my annual membership dues and let them know how much I appreciate their efforts.