A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine this month shows that states with more guns have considerably higher rates of teen suicide. Researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health found that youth suicide rates rose by “27 percent with each 10 percentage-point increase in household gun ownership.” Even after controlling for factors like depression and previous suicide attempts, the fact of the matter is that when someone attempts suicide, the result is that either they die or they don’t. When a gun is available to that person, the chances of that attempted suicide becoming an actual suicide increase enormously.
Co-author of the study Dr. Michael Siegel told U.S. News & World Report that researchers used CDC data to make estimates of household gun ownership, starting from 2004. They ended up calculating that the ten states with the highest youth suicide rates had gun ownership in more than 50 percent of their households, compared to states with less than 20 percent household gun ownership, which also had the lowest suicide rates amongst youth. People have known for some time that suicide rates are linked to access to firearms, but this study has shown how very specifically our country’s children are at danger.
"We found there are states with very high levels of suicide attempts, but very low levels of actual youth suicide," Siegel says. "The likely explanation for that is they have low rates of household gun ownership, so even though more kids are trying to commit suicide, they're not being successful."
Mental health support aside, someone who attempts suicide but is not successful has a chance to live. They have a chance to recover and maybe (hopefully) receive treatment and care that might help them rise up and out of the dark place they have found themselves in. We all need and want second chances. Guns take everything away.