From: [l s wilfin] at [remus.ral.rpi.edu] (Lee S Wilfinger)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: ACLU - Are no lovers of freedom or liberty
Date: 26 Jun 1994 17:08:28 GMT

[S--e--e] at [vertex.demon.co.uk] (Steve Whorwood) writes:
>[l s wilfin] at [remus.ral.rpi.edu] "Lee S Wilfinger" writes:
>> Sure there is. I've posted the citation at least twice.

>Without asking the suicide victims who used guns what they would have
>chosen as their second choice, if they hadn't had access to a gun, no-one
>can give anything other than an opinion on the answer.

And using this line of reasoning, without asking the suicide victims
who overdosed on drugs why they didn't use a gun instead, the claim
that "guns were not available to the victim" is mere opinion.

Go read the citation (for those that missed it: "Guns and Suicide:
Possible Effects of Some Specific Legislation", By Carles Rich,
M.D. et al, American Journal of Psychiatry, 147:3 March 1990, pp
342--346) and get back to us. After a nationwide effort in Canada in
1978 to reduce the availability of firearms, the percentage of
suicides by firearms dropped, while the percentages of suicides by
jumping increased. The overall suicide rate remained steady. This
supports the view that in the absence of firearms, suicidal people may
choose some other almost certainly fatal alternative.

-Lee