WOULD BANNING FIREARMS REDUCE MURDER AND SUICIDE?A REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AND SOME DOMESTIC EVIDENCEDON B. KATES* AND GARY MAUSER**
There is simply no relationship evident between the extent of suicide and the extent of gun ownership. People do not commit suicide because they have guns available. In the absence of firearms, people who are inclined to commit suicide kill themselves some other way.
Guns are just one among numerous available deadly instruments. Thus, banning guns cannot reduce the amount of suicides. Such measures only reduce the number of suicides by firearms. Suicides committed in other ways increase to make up the difference. People do not commit suicide because they have guns available. They kill themselves for reasons they deem sufficient, and in the absence of firearms they just kill themselves in some other way.
