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Originally Posted by Reckoner
Well it is possible that guns make impulse suicide much more easy and successful for people who use guns rather than swallowing a bottle of bills/slitting wrists/ etc.
EDIT: Also what you said about suicides is also applicable to homicides since people can still kill each other with or without guns, but guns simply make it easier.
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Of course, and I noted that in my post as well. The key here is that suicides tends not to be something done on impulse (not to say there aren't any), but rather it's something that slowly builds up to it. This is why there are suicide hotlines and prevention programs, which aims to stop people from getting to that critical point and get them help and support. This is something those of us in the military especially gets talked to often about (pre/post deployment, yearly classes etc).
People don't just wake up one day and suddenly decides to off themselves.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reckoner
Personally I believe the 2nd amendment has run its course in our society and at the very least needs a ton of regulation. Things like yearly psyche evaluations for owners, better paper trails, ,and hell even mandatory tests/learning classes for citizens wishing to purchase guns would go a long way to helping this cause. If the US at least had these things, it would be at least a manageable compromise in my eyes.
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This is a terrible idea. Are workers in nuclear or chemical plants required to go through yearly psyche eval? or air traffic controllers? or other jobs in positions from where they can inflict substantial casualties? Moreover, dumping tens and tens of millions of mandatory YEARLY visits onto an already critically understaffed and gutted mental health system is going to create the exact opposite result than the one you're hoping for. Instead of trying to help people who are at risk of becoming mass murderers, everyone is going to be tied up with dealing with millions of perfectly healthy people instead.