Suicide by firearm

[ianwilkins]

I saw this, thought of you...bit of a long read, but a good one I think...

"... nearly 45,000 Americans who killed themselves in 2016. Even at a conservative estimate, that was twice the number of homicides that year. According to data published last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the national suicide rate rose 35% between 1999 and 2018, rising in all states....

And the increases are most acute in America's adolescent population, outstripping all other age groups. According to the CDC, the rate of teenagers and young adults taking their lives rose 47% in two decades.

...

Most people who kill themselves in the US use a gun. ... it accounts for roughly two-thirds of all gun deaths, while the national conversation around gun control is dominated by mass shootings, which account for less than 1%. In 2018, on average, 67 people died by firearm suicide every day, a figure that has risen every single year since 2006.

Part of the problem with guns is that they are by far the most fatal means. There are three statistics which together paint a stark picture of the role of firearms in American suicides: about 85% of people who use a gun will die; about 95% of people who use another means will survive; and about 90% of those who survive will not go on to try again."

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50292935

[qwazse]

It is truly maddening. When youth are surveyed on depression ratings, American youth report the least sadness compared to kids throughout the world (although the difference between USA and UK kids was so small as to be deemed insignificant). Yet, when they decide all their good days don't amount to much, US youth can dispatch themselves more efficiently than any other youth in the world.

We've walked a long road with a friend whose son got a hold of his dad's service revolver when he and Son #2 were 16. It's hard to describe the void when you reminisce about sitting on the porch watching your two 5-year-olds play, and you think that only one is going forward. We stop by her shop from time to time (as Mrs. Q and Son #2 did last night) and she loves to see us. It means the world to her. She sees bits of him in his brother, his classmates, and his teammates and it means the world to her that his buddies are growing strong and good.

Needless to say, much of our discussion with scouts is about valuing their lives and letting their peers know that their lives are valuable and not to be squandered. "Cheerful" isn't just about skits and songs. It's a survival skill.

[T2Eagle]

Had this happen with two of my scouts, one while he was in the troop, one a couple years after the family moved, but he was still a scout in his new town.

Most of what I have to say would only start an argument I have little interest in having.

I will say that my own son struggles with this; he was hospitalized for it once.  Lots of kids in there with him recovering after having their stomachs pumped or their wrists stitched back up.  No one in the ward was recovering from a gunshot wound.

[codger]

It has horrified me how prevalent this problem of young person suicide has become in America.  in our small town of 8000 people, there have been a number of suicides over the past couple of decades.  About 5 years ago a friend's son aged about 14-15 got hold of his gun, and shot himself at home, after school.  His mother, a school nurse in our district, found him alive when she came home from work, but he died of his wound a short time later.  Truly gut wrenching to hear about that.  And last spring, my son, a freshman in college, awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of his roommate thrashing in agony after an attempted overdose with prescription pills.  That boy survived, although he was in a coma for a few days, and is back at school now.