Simple way to stop 62% of all gun deaths

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DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
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You've probably seen the headline: "Gun Deaths Will Exceed Traffic Deaths in US by 2015"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...ths-to-exceed-traffic-fatalities-by-2015.html

The articles reference the Bloomberg report above, point out it's because traffic deaths are declining, and the reporter then says this is an argument for gun control.

But this part of the Bloomberg report caught my eye: "About 85 Americans are shot dead daily -- 53 of them suicides."

So here's a simple way to end this scourge of gun deaths: Make (edit: attempting and assisting with) suicide legal

Why should the government be able to impose its will on us by criminalizing suicide? Shouldn't whether to live or die be a personal choice, an individual right?

If people could pick up a "Killz U Dead" pill in the health section of their grocery store, or with 2-day free shipping from Amazon, they wouldn't need to use a gun.

If you are concerned that the pill could be used to commit murder, then either there could be prescription controls, or it could be distributed at end of life clinics that would also take care of the death certificate and any other paperwork.

It would be a cleaner, safer and more reliable way for them to end their life than using a gun without the risk of botching the job and ending up maimed.
 
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sm625

sm625

Diamond Member
May 6, 2011
8,172
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DaveSimmons said:
If people could pick up a "Killz U Dead" pill in the health section of their grocery store, or with 2-day free shipping from Amazon, they wouldn't need to use a gun.

If you are concerned that the pill could be used to commit murder, then either there could be prescription controls, or it could be distributed at end of life clinics that would also take care of the death certificate and any other paperwork.
Click to expand...

lol people would be dropping dead like flies all over the place if there was a "Killz U Dead" pill. Wouldnt matter how tightly regulated it was, it would get out and into the hands of killers.
 
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soulcougher73

Lifer
Nov 29, 2006
15,861
4,425
136
Suicide is already legal. Noone can stop you from doing it, and upon success noone can punish you for it.
 
davmat787

davmat787

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2010
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sm625 said:
lol people would be dropping dead like flies all over the place if there was a "Killz U Dead" pill. Wouldnt matter how tightly regulated it was, it would get out and into the hands of killers.
Click to expand...

Would not a cyanide capsule qualify as a "Killz U Dead" pill?
 
stormkroe

stormkroe

Golden Member
May 28, 2011
1,550
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Those pills are already available, though most were made for other purposes. Guns are used because you can't 'chicken out', like with idling your car in the garage or puking up the 40 pills you just took. Also, it seems like the least painful way to go.
I think guns would still rule the roost for suicides.
 
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DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
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670
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sm625 said:
lol people would be dropping dead like flies all over the place if there was a "Killz U Dead" pill. Wouldnt matter how tightly regulated it was, it would get out and into the hands of killers.
Click to expand...

Each pill could be tagged with a unique serial number, this could be a tiny RFID speck designed to lodge in the body and not be digested.

Besides the direct gun deaths, making suicide easy one way or another could reduce deaths and injuries from "suicide by cop" attacks where the person uses a gun to provoke a lethal response.

Suicide is already legal.
Click to expand...

But assisting suicide is murder. So Amazon can't sell a death kit, and clinics can't be run to help you on your way.
 
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davmat787

davmat787

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2010
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OP does bring up an important point, that suicides should not be included in any murder statistic, or even gun death statistic. When throwing these numbers around, we are not talking about preventing suicides anyway.

As to the greater point, I do agree that it is shameful someone has to resort to blowing their brains out or hanging themselves for some loved one to find, or putting others in danger.

There are diseases just as painful as cancer but with no known cure or even hope on the horizon.
 
Fern

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
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davmat787 said:
OP does bring up an important point, that suicides should not be included in any murder statistic, or even gun death statistic. When throwing these numbers around, we are not talking about preventing suicides anyway.
-snip-
Click to expand...

Yep.

Reminds of something I read yesterday about groups changing statistics. It was about that Brady anti-gun group (whose proper name I cannot now recall), the article said they have changed the definition of 'mass shootings' to include such things as drive by shootings where at least one guy fires at least one shot in the direction of at least 3 people. I.e., the number of 'mass shootings' has increased substantially under some counts due to bogus definition changes.

I think of a mass shooting as being like the movie, mall or school shooting, not some criminal gangs fighting among themselves.

Then, while driving home last night I heard some guy on the radio talking about a big statistical increase in mass shootings. Made me go 'hmmmmm which stats is he using?'.

Fern
 
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schneiderguy

schneiderguy

Lifer
Jun 26, 2006
10,801
91
91
Fern said:
Yep.

Reminds of something I read yesterday about groups changing statistics. It was about that Brady anti-gun group (whose proper name I cannot now recall), the article said they have changed the definition of 'mass shootings' to include such things as drive by's where at least one guy fires at least one shot in the direction of at least 3 people. I.e., the number of 'mass shootings' has increased substantially under some counts due to bogus definition changes.

I think of a mass shooting as being like the movie, mall or school shooting, not some criminal gangs fighting among themselves.

Then, while driving home last night I heard some guy on the radio talking about a big increase in mass shootings. Made me go 'hmmmmm'.

Fern
Click to expand...

They also define "children" as anyone under 21 (or something like that). So when they say 10 children day from guns each day, they really mean that 10 teenage gangbangers get shot and die every day.
 
Triumph

Triumph

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
15,031
14
81
It is bullshit to include those suicides by gun in the statistics. What do I care if someone wants to off themselves? Ok I don't want people I love to do that, but I'm not going to make policy to prevent them from doing it, or blame the gun for them doing it. It's a convenient way for the gun control advocates to inflate their numbers by over 50%. That's ridiculous.
 
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DucatiMonster696

Diamond Member
Aug 13, 2009
4,269
1
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People will find ways to kill themselves if they are serious about it and it doesn't matter if they have access to a firearm. Hell its one of the reasons why they have suicide nets on the Golden Gate. The worst situation though is the person who is not 100% committed and then holds everyone else hostage by threatening to commit suicide just for the attention.

I also agree that including suicides in gun violence stats is erroneous and distorts the topic at hand, i.e. the statics of gun violence in general. However even with all the spree killings and suicides, gun related deaths, etc in the US gun related crime has been on steady decline even as gun ownership soars in the US.
 
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Smoblikat

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2011
5,184
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The pigs shouldnt have anything to do with things that only affect me. But they still do..............MJ is a perfect example.
 
ivwshane

ivwshane

Lifer
May 15, 2000
33,471
16,930
136
I'll just point out that suicide is legal. There hasn't been one person put in jail or taken to court who killed themselves;)

Now attempted suicide is a whole different matter all together.




:p
 
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DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
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Yes, that was pointed out earlier in the thread. I should have said "attempting and assisting with" suicide.
 
Zorkorist

Zorkorist

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2007
6,861
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/me hums Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

53*365 is 19345 thousand people a year committing suicide. I guess these are just the people doing it by gun, because as far as I know the number is closer to 35,000 suicides per year in the US.

Suicide, is of course, the most personal right. Government has no place in it.

-John
 
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