Guns and suicides
Following up on Sunday's column: It wasn't until I sat in the Maryland medical examiner's office some years ago, and went over gun death facts, that I understood something -- guns were used each year in almost as many suicides as homicides. In Maryland, at the height of Baltimore's murder problem in the 1990s, the number of teenaged boys who killed themselves with guns was roughly the same as the number of boys shot by others in street violence. Bob Herbert of the New York Times mentioned guns' facility in suicides in his column Saturday.
Comments
Until you change the Constitution, you will not trample it. We have the right to bear arms, and you can use your lib reporting statistics all you want. I haven't shot anyone lately, including myself. And again, those are likely not legal handguns being used anyway.
Posted by: Norris | April 26, 2009 9:23 AM
...the pro gun guys-
what- besides "more guns" are their solutions- that will work? I don't hear it from them.
Maybe you could get the response from the NRA and publish it or discuss it- I'm sure they have something- "never point a gun at another person"- maybe.
These guys from the rural counties or the south that are dunning you- they're so quick with the arguments- one senses an inward shame- a deep recognition of their complicity, no?
dave e
Posted by: dave eberhardt | April 27, 2009 6:18 AM
Responsible gun owners are not the problem. They never have been the problem, and they never will be the problem.
If you want to end gun violence, lock up violent offenders and keep them there. Folks who show a complete disregard for the law have no business walking among us.
Posted by: Kyle | April 28, 2009 10:13 AM
Maybe locking criminals up and not letting them out for "good behavior" is the solution. A story ran in the Washington Post a few days ago about a man who in 2000, slashed the throats of two people and stabbed a third person. He was sentenced to 20 years, with 8 of those years suspended. He was released after 6 years because of "good behavior" credits earned while in prison.
What did he do upon his release? He mugged a 24 year old woman, was dissatisfied over the fact that she only had $40 on her, so he shot her dead.
Meanwhile, roughly 65 million gun owners acted responsibly with their firearms yesterday, and have done so for quite a long time.
Put the scum of society where they belong and stop blaming innocent, law-abiding citizens for crimes committed by repeat offenders and a justice system that allows them to walk free for "behaving" while serving their time.
Posted by: Tony | April 28, 2009 10:22 AM
I thought that this entry was about gun suicides?
Posted by: L.J. Burgess | April 29, 2009 10:25 AM