Indisputable Evidence: More Guns = More Suicide. Or Not.

Now that TTAG’s about to crest 700k unique visitors per month, I’ve had a little re-think about our outgoing links. I’ve taken on board what Sebastian and other internet-based firearms founding fathers said about not linking to MikeB302000’s website—lest I give his merry band of gun grabbers the “oxygen of publicity.” So if you wanna go there, Google ‘N Go. Meanwhile and in any case, I want to highlight the occasional TTAG commentator’s [not-so-secret] inability to marshal what are commonly called “facts.” The above chart is as close as he gets. And here’s the so-called reasoning behind its deployment . . .

High gun states: Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, South Dakota, Arkansas, West Virginia, Alabama, Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota and Kentucky – total population 100.6 million

Low gun states: Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut – total population 100.6 million . . .

From the book by Prof. David Hemenway, Private Guns Public Health . . .

What the chart indisputably shows is that where there are guns there are more incidents of gun violence. It’s a sad fact that in America, women are brutalized by men too often, but what this chart shows is that when there’s a gun in the house, it becomes lethal. The total figures on suicides indicate that the gun is especially effective. Where there are fewer guns, there are fewer successful suicides. (source is CDC WISQARS 2003)

Yup, that’s it. A home-made chart with no variables save guns and suicides. More guns equals more “effective” suicides; a shibboleth trotted out to “commemorate” the suicide of Soul Train founder Don Cornelius.

No wonder gun control advocates rely on bloody anecdotes and emotional appeals to bolster their crusade for “common sense” firearms regulations. Truth be told, they ain’t got game.