Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: Common myth "If people want to die by suicide, we can't stop them." [View all]gejohnston
(17,502 posts)being distracted by the means.
Americans shoot themselves more than Canadians, Canadians shoot themselves more than Germans, who shoot themselves more than Japanese.
Canada did have a slight of suicide by gun after passing their 1977 law (requiring licencing of all gun owners instead of just pistols. Why they regulated handguns more than machine guns until then still escapes me.) they did not see a drop in suicide as a whole. Hanging (the most common means in most places other than US and maybe Serbia and Switzerland) increased by same amount.
In short, no lives saved. One of my brother's high school friends had the choice of at least three guns but chose a cup of battery acid instead.
Talking about guns, ropes, bridges, trains (common means in Japan) does not address the issue at all.