Are gun fatalities being skewed by suicide?

[LivingDeadGirl]

Came across an article today from The Arizona Republic.

basically, it says in Missouri that firearms are the leading cause of non-medical deaths in the state. Then it states that why homicide deaths are down by 17%, the number of gun-related deaths is up by 14% and this is due to suicide by firearm. You can read the whole article herehttp://www.azcentral.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/07/firearms-deaths-pass-fatal-crashes-as-top-nonmedical-killer/23043879/.

What I found most startling was that it cited the number of deaths in Kansas has 320 total for the year and 240 were suicide. That's a huge difference! Do you think this is the why the death-by-firearms number is high in some reports?

[canon6]

You are so correct. Here in Mt we are 1st or 2nd every year for suicide's. Most involve firearms and a large number of those are from the numerous reservations in the state.Now before some one gets their knickers in a bunch, only reporting the results ,not assigning any blame/responsibilty. I will leave that to others.   Doug

[LivingDeadGirl]

Interesting.  I'll see what else I can find.

[GunLink]

Gun Control Not Associated With Reducing Suicides
NRA-ILA
Sept 18, 2015

Throwing all manner of mud at the wall to see what might stick, Michael Bloomberg’s number-crunchers and whoever produces “reports” for the Brady Campaign nowadays have decided, as gun control supporters do, to try promoting gun control as the solution to suicide.

From their perspective, it makes sense to give it a try, since firearm murder and firearm accident death rates are at historic lows, the American people increasingly say that firearms help protect people from crime, and each of the anti-gunners’ attempts to promote gun control in knee-jerk reaction to high-profile crimes has motivated Americans to buy more guns.

A new study by researchers at Bloomberg’s Center for Gun Policy at Johns Hopkins University contends that if you juggle the numbers a certain way, suicide rates might hinge on whether a state requires a permit to purchase a handgun, while the Brady Campaign tries to link suicide rates to gun availability in general.

Dealing with the subject of suicide requires the anti-gunners to get creative, however. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, which cover years 1981 through 2013—incidentally, a period in which Americans acquired an additional 195 million firearms—the firearm suicide rate (the number of suicides per 100,000 population) decreased five percent, while the non-firearm suicide rate increased 27 percent.

[LivingDeadGirl]

Also interesting. Ill have to read these articles as soon as i have a free moment.

I wonder if the number jiggling will be like that domestic violence report i mentioned a long time ago in a different post.  Only looking at large metropolitan areas where suicide rate is already higher than average.