Most gun deaths in US are suicides

For the most part, unless it is a murder/suicide, the media does not report suicides, especially of young people. This is by agreement with health and police authorities because publicity does tend to incite copy cat events. You need to search for the statistics to see how big a problem it is.
 
For the most part, unless it is a murder/suicide, the media does not report suicides, especially of young people. This is by agreement with health and police authorities because publicity does tend to incite copy cat events. You need to search for the statistics to see how big a problem it is.
Same in the USA. Unless it's part of a huge news story somehow, it is not reported.
 

Résumé
Razors pain you,
Rivers are damp,
Acids stain you,
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful,
Nooses give,
Gas smells awful.
You might as well live.”


Dorothy Parker, Enough Rope

This is a morbid topic, for sure, but since it's been brought up, if I really wanted
to do it, I would use a gun.

I had a cousin who was dying from Hepatitis C. He was hospitalized and
had finally given up (back then, no real treatment). He finally couldn't take it
anymore and jumped out of his hospital room window.

I could never do it in that way. A co-worker once told me
that the sister of a friend had overdosed on some kind of medication to do it.
And she ended up in a vegetative state, instead.

The only way I would use suicide to leave this planet would be to be terminally
ill and use the Death with Dignity way.

I found that 50% of all suicides are with guns, and the other 50% is everything else.
 
For the most part, unless it is a murder/suicide, the media does not report suicides, especially of young people. This is by agreement with health and police authorities because publicity does tend to incite copy cat events. You need to search for the statistics to see how big a problem it is.

I'm not talking about the media reporting every individual suicide.

My point is that with all the debate/discussion about guns in the US, I've never heard any news report state that most gun deaths in US are suicides. Not murders of other people - suicides, where a person takes their own life.
 
I'm not talking about the media reporting every individual suicide.

My point is that with all the debate/discussion about guns in the US, I've never heard any news report state that most gun deaths in US are suicides. Not murders of other people - suicides, where a person takes their own life.

From my own personal experience, over the course of 35 years, that was my experience as well.
 
I think this data is just from one year 2013 from the CDC, but it says suicides by firearms were 22,018, and homicides by firearms were 12,979. More HERE. I'm not surprised, because I've heard that before, and overall suicides exceed homicides.

The surest way to kill yourself is putting a gun in your mouth and pulling the trigger. I don't think I'd have the guts to use a gun, but who knows if I'm in that mindset and want to end it all . My mother in law bought the book Final Exit, and it still sits on our shelf, thankfully she died peacefully in her sleep. The book goes on to assure different ways to make sure you die and make it final.
 
I think this data is just from one year 2013 from the CDC, but it says suicides by firearms were 22,018, and homicides by firearms were 12,979. More HERE. I'm not surprised, because I've heard that before, and overall suicides exceed homicides.

The surest way to kill yourself is putting a gun in your mouth and pulling the trigger. I don't think I'd have the guts to use a gun, but who knows if I'm in that mindset and want to end it all . My mother in law bought the book Final Exit, and it still sits on our shelf, thankfully she died peacefully in her sleep. The book goes on to assure different ways to make sure you die and make it final.

There are definitely some interesting ways to do the deed. We just had a 30ish year old man undress at a local pier and dove in. Witnesses last saw him about 30 metres away from the dock swimming further out. There's still ice in the water and the air temp was -4 celsius (28F). He was definitely committed. Wouldn't be my choice.
 
There are definitely some interesting ways to do the deed. We just had a 30ish year old man undress at a local pier and dove in. Witnesses last saw him about 30 metres away from the dock swimming further out. There's still ice in the water and the air temp was -4 celsius (28F). He was definitely committed. Wouldn't be my choice.

I know, I've heard of some people who take a bottle of whiskey with them into the mountain areas in winter, go far in where they're alone, and pretty much freeze to death. I understand there's not too much left of their bodies by the time they're found in spring or summer because of the animals.
 
So they can drink until they pass out and then let nature take its course? That would be my guess.

Yes, that's what I understand too. I guess it would be hard to trudge through deep frigid mountain snow and sit there waiting to die by freezing without a little help from the bottle.
 
If you'll pardon the introduction of a bit of grisly humor here, I've been streaming the wonderful series Six Feet Under, about a family of funeral directors, and the poor guy who works there has to deal with a body that was accidentally cut in half by an elevator door. That's got to be worse.

They even did a mockup of the body, with the two halves lying on two separate work tables.
 
If you'll pardon the introduction of a bit of grisly humor here, I've been streaming the wonderful series Six Feet Under, about a family of funeral directors, and the poor guy who works there has to deal with a body that was accidentally cut in half by an elevator door. That's got to be worse.

They even did a mockup of the body, with the two halves lying on two separate work tables.

I've got to watch that show!....I investigated a suicide on a farm where the farmer.....ummm, never mind. TMI.
 
James, it's a wonderful series. I'm enjoying it for about the third time. It's available on Amazon Prime if you get that.
 
Here in Pennsylvania, back in 1987 (I believe) our state treasurer, Budd Dwyer, committed suicide live on TV on a noon news day TV show. You can probably Google it and watch him kill himself. He used a .357 and you could see brain matter on the wall in back of him after he dropped to the floor. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5tyxm0

It had snowed that day, so a lot of kids were home that day and saw the act happen. I was serving my 3 months duty of being part of the guard team for the Governor at that time, so we were at the Governor’s mansion having lunch when we got the call to go into lockdown. You might know it, we were having my favorite, broiled crab cakes, and they are not good once they get cold.
 
^^ Don't want to watch the video. 911, but I looked up the details about Dwyer's case. Apparently he shot himself the day before sentencing (for accepting a bribe).

I've known of several people who have committed suicide with a gun:

Back when I was in high school working summers and weekends as a "check out girl" (cashier) there was a super nice family who were regular customers. I knew the daughter Laura from school - she was super brainy and had been accepted at an expensive private college Long to short, her dad asked me who she could talk to about a job at the store. Laura was hired and I trained her on register....by that time I'd become a "pro".

Laura had received a small scholarship, but they still needed money for her education. She left the job and went off to college. About a year later her father shot himself. He worked at a small finance company, and had been embezzling funds......the authorities were closing in and he would have gone to prison.

Laura's mother came in the store a couple times after that happened....she was almost unrecognizable....a broken woman.

Another case was a friend of my older brother from his high school class...Louis had become a federal prosecutor. I saw him shortly after my brother died. Louis himself died of a heart attack shortly before his retirement about 10 yrs ago. His 30ish son (Stanford grad) was totally devastated and a few months after his dad's death shot himself while sitting in the same chair where his father had died. Tragic.

I can't imagine what family members go thru when walking into such a scene. :(
 
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Several years ago the fella that lived across the street and down four houses was diagnosed with terminal cancer so one day while his wife was at work he went into the backyard, sat in a lawn chair and blew his brains out.....at least he cared for his wife enough to not do it inside and make a mess.
 
Several years ago the fella that lived across the street and down four houses was diagnosed with terminal cancer so one day while his wife was at work he went into the backyard, sat in a lawn chair and blew his brains out.....at least he cared for his wife enough to not do it inside and make a mess.

Consideration goes a long way. A former colleague who unfortunately suffered in silence with ptsd left his wife a note she found on the kitchen counter when she came home from work. It said , you can't do anything for me now, I am in the garage, do not go in. Call the office. The guys will find the key to the man door in my locker.
 
If you'll pardon the introduction of a bit of grisly humor here, I've been streaming the wonderful series Six Feet Under, about a family of funeral directors, and the poor guy who works there has to deal with a body that was accidentally cut in half by an elevator door. That's got to be worse.

They even did a mockup of the body, with the two halves lying on two separate work tables.

That actually happened. I believe it was an intern, and IIRC he got beheaded. Hospital workers are notorious for diving into elevators as the doors close. It's a wonder it doesn't happen more often.
 
If you'll pardon the introduction of a bit of grisly humor here, I've been streaming the wonderful series Six Feet Under, about a family of funeral directors, and the poor guy who works there has to deal with a body that was accidentally cut in half by an elevator door. That's got to be worse.

They even did a mockup of the body, with the two halves lying on two separate work tables.

:confused:

humor?
 
Suicides have a tendency to set a precedent in families.

I remember neighbours of my aunt. A lovely family of airline navigator father, stay at home mother, three boys and an adopted little girl. Apparently the mother had some kind of nervous breakdown, crawled under the house with a hand gun and killed herself. Twelve months to the day, the eldest son, who was studying medicine at university, stepped in front of a train. So sad and I have no idea how the family coped after that.
 
^^ Don't want to watch the video. 911, but I looked up the details about Dwyer's case. Apparently he shot himself the day before sentencing (for accepting a bribe).

I've known of several people who have committed suicide with a gun:

Back when I was in high school working summers and weekends as a "check out girl" (cashier) there was a super nice family who were regular customers. I knew the daughter Laura from school - she was super brainy and had been accepted at an expensive private college Long to short, her dad asked me who she could talk to about a job at the store. Laura was hired and I trained her on register....by that time I'd become a "pro".

Laure had received a mall scholarship, but they still needed money for her education. She left the job and went off to college. About a year later her father shot himself. He worked at a small finance company, and had been embezzling funds......the authorities were closing in and he would have gone to prison.

Laura's mother came in the store a couple times after that happened....she was almost unrecognizable....a broken woman.

Another case was a friend of my older brother from his high school class...Louis had become a federal prosecutor. I saw him shortly after my brother died. Louis himself died of a heart attack shortly before his retirement about 10 yrs ago. His 30ish son (Stanford grad) was totally devastated and a few months after his dad's death shot himself while sitting in the same chair where his father had died. Tragic.

I can't imagine what family members go thru when walking into such a scene. :(


When I was in high school several of us guys hung out together. The fair here is held every year during the second week of September. All of us would take a day off from school and spend it at the fair. The one kid in our group was given a stern warning by his dad that he had better not take off and go to the fair "or else." (I never knew what "or else" meant when I was 17.) He stayed home anyway, but instead of going to school, he went into his room and put his 16 gauge shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. My mom and his mom where really good friends. My mom didn't know what she could do to help her friend. She would just go and spend the day with her and did her housework, made the meals and so on for about week or so. My mom felt her friend's pain, but just didn't know what else to do, except to be there for support.

Another kid's dad, who was a preacher in our town, was devastated by his other son's death due to leukemia. One day, he went to the cemetery and kneeled on his son's grave and shot himself in the head. Almost two year's later, the other son kneeled on his father's grave and also shot himself in the head. I didn't know the family very well, but we didn't see hide or hair of them for over a month after that. A few weeks later, after they had finally showed themselves, they moved out of town. The house that they lived in went up for sale and it sat for months and months before someone finally bought it. The house belonged to the church and they thought that it should be sold under the circumstances. I have never understood that.
 


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