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.""

Full Story.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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]

Sources, although I missed a part. Number 1 cause of death via injury.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobile...n_1909772.html

Enjoy!

Suicide leading cause of death BY INJURY. since 2009 it has been #1 in that category, not leading cause of death.


Yeah, I can see where it would increase. People lose their homes, their families, their jobs, and take their own lives.

from the extremely rich, to the very poor, people will take their own life for god knows what reasons. But that is going to ultimately be their choice, they will get it done no matter what tool it takes.

[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