I will probably never be convinced that the ubiquitous presence of guns in TV shows and movies does not also make them seem more desirable and even necessary to men who see them as a masculine accessory. We now also have a Secretary of Defense who puts out a social media post saying, "We have only begun to kill narco-terrorists" and encourages maximum lethality.
I believe women more often use suicide methods like pills, which fail, which is why their rates are lower. My best friend was one of the rare women who used a gun, which was her husband's. And yes, he had it locked up, she gained access to it by subterfuge.
just having a gun in the home puts everyone in the house at much greater risk of gun violence, unfortunately. I’m really sorry to hear about your friend.
Reminds me of attending high school in the small farm town where we lived in the rural midwest. Pop. 1,000.
One day in 1970 I came across an injured cat in the street, obviously hit by a car and dying in pain.
I knocked on the nearest door and explained to the young woman, a stranger, about the cat outside and did they have a gun I could borrow to put it out of its misery.
She went inside and brought me, a stranger, a loaded pistol, "It's my husbands."
I might as well have asked to borrow a shovel, or a pencil.
The pistol did the trick, and I returned it just as nonchalantly.
The other striking part of that story for me is how difficult it was for me -- unaccustomed to killing things -- to hold the pistol steady enough to pull the trigger on a cat, however necessary.
Shaky hands!
Probably why militaries spend so much training overcoming civilian taboos against pulling triggers on others.
Thanks for a good, data-filled post. Sorry for my anecdotal side-issue, but it is true.
Thank you for focusing on the correct issue in the "masculinity debate" and the "manly" persona madness the Right is pushing (and they say we focus too much on identity politics!). We'll never be Australia but I hope someday we come to a more rational consensus on gun ownership that isn't the result of some (even more) massive tragedy. The outlook is pretty bleak right now though.
When Emile Durkheim first defined the concept of suicide in the 19th century, he indicated that a major cause of it was that urban people had dislocated themselves from social settings that could provide emotional anchoring (e.g. families, churches), which caused them to live alone and ultimately die alone when they were at the greatest level of despair. And, indeed, despair remains at the heart of why suicide continues to be committed- the victims have cut themselves off, through their own actions and/or those of the people and institutions who disowned them and thus have to rely only on their own self-loathing for their company.
I don’t think suicides are concentrated in urban areas? generally suicide tracks gun ownership, and there are higher rates of gun ownership in rural areas, generally.
I never said they didn’t happen there; Durkheim was concentrating on urban areas, but the same kind of isolation and despair happens in rural parts of countries as well. And usually people have easier access to guns there….
Say it again for the people in the cheap seats. The statistical evidence is a nice touch. I enjoyed reading a fresh look at an old issue.
I will probably never be convinced that the ubiquitous presence of guns in TV shows and movies does not also make them seem more desirable and even necessary to men who see them as a masculine accessory. We now also have a Secretary of Defense who puts out a social media post saying, "We have only begun to kill narco-terrorists" and encourages maximum lethality.
And suicidal men are also more likely to perpetrate mass shootings and family annihilations. Check out this post from earlier this year by Dr. Stacey Patton: https://open.substack.com/pub/drstaceypatton1865/p/suicide-turned-outward-why-white?r=fi0jn&utm_medium=ios
Typo in your title, I believe
Gah
I believe women more often use suicide methods like pills, which fail, which is why their rates are lower. My best friend was one of the rare women who used a gun, which was her husband's. And yes, he had it locked up, she gained access to it by subterfuge.
just having a gun in the home puts everyone in the house at much greater risk of gun violence, unfortunately. I’m really sorry to hear about your friend.
Reminds me of attending high school in the small farm town where we lived in the rural midwest. Pop. 1,000.
One day in 1970 I came across an injured cat in the street, obviously hit by a car and dying in pain.
I knocked on the nearest door and explained to the young woman, a stranger, about the cat outside and did they have a gun I could borrow to put it out of its misery.
She went inside and brought me, a stranger, a loaded pistol, "It's my husbands."
I might as well have asked to borrow a shovel, or a pencil.
The pistol did the trick, and I returned it just as nonchalantly.
The other striking part of that story for me is how difficult it was for me -- unaccustomed to killing things -- to hold the pistol steady enough to pull the trigger on a cat, however necessary.
Shaky hands!
Probably why militaries spend so much training overcoming civilian taboos against pulling triggers on others.
Thanks for a good, data-filled post. Sorry for my anecdotal side-issue, but it is true.
Robert in Vermont
Indeed.
Thank you for focusing on the correct issue in the "masculinity debate" and the "manly" persona madness the Right is pushing (and they say we focus too much on identity politics!). We'll never be Australia but I hope someday we come to a more rational consensus on gun ownership that isn't the result of some (even more) massive tragedy. The outlook is pretty bleak right now though.
When Emile Durkheim first defined the concept of suicide in the 19th century, he indicated that a major cause of it was that urban people had dislocated themselves from social settings that could provide emotional anchoring (e.g. families, churches), which caused them to live alone and ultimately die alone when they were at the greatest level of despair. And, indeed, despair remains at the heart of why suicide continues to be committed- the victims have cut themselves off, through their own actions and/or those of the people and institutions who disowned them and thus have to rely only on their own self-loathing for their company.
For example, Bill Withers' song "Better Off Dead" is about one such man (listen carefully at the end of the song!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWaBSvAQWqY
I don’t think suicides are concentrated in urban areas? generally suicide tracks gun ownership, and there are higher rates of gun ownership in rural areas, generally.
I never said they didn’t happen there; Durkheim was concentrating on urban areas, but the same kind of isolation and despair happens in rural parts of countries as well. And usually people have easier access to guns there….