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Teenage boys' suicide rate is skyrocketing because of firearms access (19thnews.org)

submitted 11 months ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/usnews@beehaw.org

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[–] LoamImprovement@beehaw.org 28 points 11 months ago (3 children)

It's not the root cause, but I'm sure having easy access to a gun seems a lot quicker and cleaner than, for example, hanging yourself. I know a lot of people who probably wouldn't be around right now if their folks kept guns in the house.

[–] alyaza@beehaw.org 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It’s not the root cause, but I’m sure having easy access to a gun seems a lot quicker and cleaner than, for example, hanging yourself.

we're getting into the macabre a little bit here but, to be brief: yeah. if it was required people attempt to hang themselves (or overdose, or any other non-firearm method of suicide), pretty much all the data i'm aware of indicates the suicide rate would drop appreciably from where it is now in the US (45,000-50,000 deaths a year).

[–] ampcold@beehaw.org 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The path of least resistance from thought to action is very important. I wouldn’t actually know of an easy way if I wanted to kill myself right now. Having a gun in my drawer could easily make a bad day into a final day.

[–] sadreality@kbin.social 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I mean... Alterative would be to have proper social policy where less peopleare pushed to killself...

Can't so that tho in America ;)

[–] ampcold@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Or both ? It is not either or. There is no single thing that can drop suicide to zero, but plenty of well known measures that can reduce it. Seems weird to blatantly ignore one of the most effective ones.

[–] sadreality@kbin.social 5 points 11 months ago

What measure are you proposing again?

[–] PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

The pro-gun crowd doesn't care. There's no such thing as a body they won't sweep under the rug and suicide makes it easy.