As military suicides rise, focus shifts to private guns

[Clint45]

When I was stationed at Ft Leonard Wood in the late 80s, no-one under E-5 was permitted to own any sort of personal firearm on base, including .22 bolt actions. Knives were restricted to under 2 3/4" blades as well.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Gun controllers will grasp at any straw and poke at any figment of the imagination in order to implement their agenda. Most of the vehement gun-banners are also vehemently anti-military (at least from what I've seen) so this tack is way for them to show they "support the troops" without really doing so.

[TAR31]

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

You must be getting your statistics from obama.

[45XD]

Ok, I get that some people who commit suicide use guns.
But speaking as one who has worked in/around trauma patients for 10+ years, I can assure you that there are other ways...

We'd have to:
1. Ban rope
2. Ban aspirin and tylenol (even though these are extremely ineffective ways to kill oneself)
3. Ban antifreeze
4. Ban parked cars (it's very hard to bring someone back from CO poisoning)
5. Ban driving cars
6. Ban cliffs, parking garages and any other tall buildings
7. Ban knives, razor blades, glass, swords, and any other sharp objects
8. Ban boats
9. Ban prescription pain killers (Obamacare may help with this one)
10. Ban bathtubs
11. And of course, ban alcohol

Oh, forgot one: we should probably ban cops- suicide by cop is on the rise, you know...

I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of suicide- I personally knew 5 people in high school who either committed suicide and had a sibling who committed suicide- I live in a county that has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation- but this is yet another stupid ploy by a bunch of liberal nut-holes who are trying to push through their agenda.

My two cents...

[Buckaroobonsai]

This is touchy subject for me. I was deployed while my best friend was held back for failing a piss test, among other issues. When I returned, my "Top" was the one to tell me that he had gotten drunk and jumped in front of his ex-girlfriend's car as she sped away after dumping him. I felt like shi* for quite some time, wondering if I could have stopped him had I only been there. Looking back now, drugs & alcohol abuse certainly didn't help matters, but I think the lack of any support system is what was really missing. In the front, or in rear, in or out of country, peace or wartime, it doesn't really matter. The life of soldier is never easy. It's hard to explain unless you've been there. Uncle Sam can teach you how to fight, but dealing with other life issues was never really addressed in my AIT. That was back in the late 80's-early 90's. I think personal and psycological issues are better addressed by today's military, but obviously still has a ways to go.

[Irving]

Suicides in general are on the rise, it has surpassed auto crashes as the number one cause of death in the U.S.

Uh, you have a source for that? I bet it is no where close.



On a side note, I just thought of a great way to curb income tax fraud by eliminating jobs...

[WETWRKS]

So...someone intends to commit suicide and they take away their personal firearms...yet they still have access to ones issued them by the government.

Dosn't make sense.

[SAnd]

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

It must have radically changed. The last statistical year that numbers are available is 2009.

Here are a just a few to compare-
Diseases of heart 598,607
Diabetes mellitus 68,504
Influenza and pneumonia 53,582
Intentional self-harm (suicide) 36,547
Transport accidents 39,057

So unless there has been miraculous advancement in the medicine there are a lot of other causes killing far more than suicides.

The numbers are from this-
Centers for Disease Control link to their latest annual death report.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr59/nvsr59_04.pdf

[mephistopheles]

Uh, you have a source for that? I bet it is no where close.



On a side note, I just thought of a great way to curb income tax fraud by eliminating jobs...

Sources, although I missed a part. Number 1 cause of death via injury but still pretty alarming that more people die by choice than auto wrecks nowadays.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobile...n_1909772.html

[sniper7]

I don't see where limiting firearms is going to stop people from killing themselves. If they want to do it, there are a ton of ways. a bullet is probably the easiest and most painless. but high altitudes, deep lakes, long rope, knives, cars, drugs, alcohol, etc etc etc all can be used to take ones life.
Helping our soldiers when they come back should be the first priority. I am going to go out on a limb and say that somebody, somewhere, knew the person who committed suicide had some issues that needed looked at and corrected. Nobody will stop them all, but taking away rights will only enhance the problems.

oh...and don't forget Ft. Hood, where a Taliban supporter was the guy who was therapist supposedly helping our troops get past their problems.