Monday, February 16, 2015

Take away guns and you stop suicides

Welcome to our series on debunking the most popular gun myths. In it, we aim to totally destroy all of the myths that you are most familiar with. You will be able to use these to cram the truth down a gun grabber's throat.

Because sometimes the truth hurts, we don't care if they choke on it.

#5 - Take away guns and you stop suicides.

Ummm.... Not really. The Center For Disease Control has hard numbers on suicide. On average 40,000 people each year chose to end their life. Out of that 10,000 choose suffocation. Meaning they hung themselves. Over 6,000 chose to poison themselves. 20,000 chose to put a gun to their head. And you believe that if we take away guns, those 20,000 will somehow change their minds?

You don't really believe that, do you?

Let me ask you a question. Don't you think that if guns vanished overnight, most all of them would find another way? Betcha' they would. How do I know that? Because half of that number hang themselves each year already. A slower and more painful way to die. Half of that number poison themselves. The rest find other means.

Plus we can look at the UK for an example. Their suicide rate is virtually identical to ours. But they have very oppressive gun control laws compared to the US. And guess what, most of them are all hanging themselves or popping pills. Few guns. Same suicide rate. No differences.

Need other countries for comparison?

Cuba. Very restrictive gun laws. Same suicide rate as ours.
China. Very restrictive gun laws. Same suicide rate as ours.
Germany. Way more restrictive gun laws. Same suicide rate as ours.

I could list about 10 more, but I think you get the point. The bottom line is that we have ample proof that this claim is bogus.

I know what you are thinking. But if just a few of the ones that normally put a gun to their heads, suddenly change their minds and choose life, wouldn't that be worth it?

Let me ask you a couple of other questions. Did you know that in the US, 70,000 people each year shoot a bad guy that tried to harm them? Would you take away 70,000 people's right to keep on breathing, for just a few that wanted to end it all anyway?

How about this? 10,000 people each year hang themselves. Would you be willing to make buying rope illegal? After all, a lot of people use it each year to hang themselves. 

OF COURSE NOT! That would be silly. And so is the claim that making guns vanish would change the suicide rate. 

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