GogglesPisano

Actually, a gun is the single most effective suicide method. Mostly used by men. Medication, mostly used by women, has a much lower "success" rate.

More guns readily available = more suicides (certainly impulse suicides.)

jungle

Japan and a few other countries with tight gun control have far higher suicide rates than the US, there are a great many ways to off yourself without a gun.

Ropes, tall building and nitrogen are 100% effective.

John Carr

Agree. But take away an easily accessible/effective method of doing something and a human being will simply move to the next one.

Unable to kill someone with guns? You could always use a bomb. Doesn't matter if it's made from fertilizer and put in a moving truck or a simple pipe bomb.

Sorry, but presription meds ARENT hard to obtain, contrary to what some may believe.

jungle

Oh there are a great many things we can do about it, but the current thinking is that those lives don't matter. Not worth the effort.

But the facts are very clear, the ten cities with the highest rates of violent crime absolutely share a common thread. You know what that is don't you?

GogglesPisano

Of course. Food deserts.

jungle

The war on poverty, drugs and terror have one thing in common. They are all massive failures and the rate of return on the investment is paltry.
The lesson here is that sometimes we have to just accept the loss and move on. Change is not created by government mandate, it is created by individual effort.
The US is composed of many cultures, some are devoted to advancing civilization and some are devoted to dystopia.

RhinoPherret

Here are some death stats from the U.S. CDC for the year 2013 and also top 10 leading causes of death in 2012. Maybe we all ought to take a good look at what is actually killing most of us each year than we ever realized.

Death stats from U.S. CDC for 2013

Unintentional poisoning deaths Number of deaths: 38,851 Deaths per 100,000 population: 12.3

Motor vehicle traffic deaths Number of deaths: 33,804 Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.7
2013: BAC was reported for 72 percent of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers.

Unintentional fall deaths: Number of deaths: 30,208 Deaths per 100,000 population: 9.6

2013 Firearm homicides Number of deaths: 11,208 Deaths per 100,000 population: 3.5

U.S. Military deaths from Afghanistan war 2001 – 2014: 2,356

U.S. Military deaths from Iraq war 2003 – 2012: 4,489

Results—In 2012, the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. were, in rank
order:
Diseases of heart
Malignant neoplasms
Chronic lower respiratory diseases
Cerebrovascular diseases
Accidents (unintentional injuries)
Alzheimer’s disease
Diabetes mellitus
Influenza and pneumonia
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis
Intentional self-harm (suicide).

These causes accounted for 74% of all deaths occurring in the United States.

jungle

The CDC forgot to mention that Doctors killed about 300,000 through medical misadventure. I can understand why they did that.
Watch the late night ads on TV, they mostly consist of class action suites against drug companies and IRS actions.
Follow the money. The trail is broadcast every day.

RhinoPherret

Yes. You are basically correct.

To quote from one source:

Now comes a study in the current issue of the Journal of Patient Safety that says the numbers may be much higher — between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year who go to the hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death.

That would make medical errors the third-leading cause of death in America, behind heart disease, which is the first, and cancer, which is second.

jungle

If you live long enough you will get some form of cancer, but your odds of being killed by a terrorist or a drug overdose are close to those of being struck by lightening.

You are far more likely to be killed by a doctor, a blunt object or being beaten to death than by a rifle.