Study: More Guns Lead To More Suicides

[DanTex]

97. Of course, and gun availability is only part of it.

I'm not implying that gun ownership "causes" suicide, only that it contributes to the risk. An overwhelming majority of mental health practitioners and suicide experts would agree with this, exactly as I've stated it, and there are plenty of studies to back this up.

Suicide has many causes, like you said, it is a complex issue, so trying to isolate a single cause for each and every suicide is somewhat silly. Instead, people speak of risk factors, of which gun availability is just one. It's not just a "simple statistical correlation", it's actually an extensive body of statistical evidence including case-control and ecological studies, both of which are controlled for confounding factors, as well as understanding of the nature of suicide, that it's often an impulsive act, in which case access to easy and lethal means can often make the difference between a passing suicidal thought, a survived suicidal attempt with less lethal means, or a completed suicide with the most lethal means in general use, which is a gun. On the off chance that you are actually interested in this and aren't just here to defend guns at all costs, I invite you to read on...

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/