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Sturgeon's House

United States Gun Control Megathread


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4 hours ago, Lord_James said:

 

 

I don’t think getting rid of guns will significantly lower the suicide rate, as there are MANY other ways to kill yourself. Ironically, the gun is one of the more humane ways someone could kill themselves, above hanging and plastic-bag-over-the-head, IMO. I’m not advocating or excusing people whom commit suicide, but there are more (and cheaper) ways someone can take their own life than a handgun. 

 

This also seems like another of those “feel guilty” articles, where they point to something other than the root cause of the issue. In this case, suicides. (un)Humorously, I believe the roots for suicides could lie in a similar place to why there is gun violence: mental health. Not so much like autism, but depression, anxiety, and paranoid schizophrenia (among others). How in hell we’re suppose to fix or mitigate those issues, I haven’t the foggiest idea, but the “ban guns” approach will NOT solve it. 

So part of the discussion around suicide has to do with the fact that a lot of them (around 90%, by some estimates) are by people who will be perfectly fine a few years later.

 

The second issue is that it's now known that in a lot of cases the point of being suicidal is less like a state of being and more like a mental valley you pass through. So there have been studies that show that delays of a few minutes can prevent a lot of suicides.

 

Taken together, there is now a strong case that doing anything to materially delay a suicide attempt results in you saving productive, healthy lives. So the fine distinctions start to become important.

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1 minute ago, Sturgeon said:

I think suicide is predominantly a male-linked phenomenon, and is genetically driven by an ancestral fitness advantage where the perpetrator improves the propagation of his genes by... Dying.

Mechanism?

 

My understanding is that men and women attempt to kill themselves at more-or-less equal rates, but men tend to go for more spectacular (and successful) approaches.

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Full disclosure; I had a suicidal person in the family this year, and it conformed to the backed-into-a-corner hypothesis. It also ended with a proper attempt that was foiled by delay, and the person has since recovered and is back to normal.

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2 hours ago, Sturgeon said:

I think suicide is predominantly a male-linked phenomenon, and is genetically driven by an ancestral fitness advantage where the perpetrator improves the propagation of his genes by... Dying.

 

It is heavily male linked. I'm curious to know if our primal competitive nature leads to greater psychological isolation, or if that is just confirmation bias on my part. Could there be something in the male psyche that makes us feel more isolated than females? Is it just the testosterone doing is thing. I'm convinced that there is a link between the feeling of being backed into a corner and male aggression and suicides, but I could be entirely wing about that.

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2 hours ago, Toxn said:

Full disclosure; I had a suicidal person in the family this year, and it conformed to the backed-into-a-corner hypothesis. It also ended with a proper attempt that was foiled by delay, and the person has since recovered and is back to normal.

 

Full disclosure; I've been dealing with suicidal depression for 16 years now. I've got a decent handle on it by now, and I can confirm that it is a mental valley that you have to get to the other side of. Once you know and understand that, it is much easier to recognize those cycles and see yourself to the other side (no, not that other side). It's nice to see other people confirm the backed into a corner hypothesis.

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I’ve never been that low to consider suicide, though I have noticed it’s harder for me to get out of bed and do everything I need to do for the day. A general lack of interest and motivation have also plagued me for a couple years now. 

 

 

Sorry for derailing, especially on such a sensitive/morbid topic. 

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7 hours ago, Toxn said:

Mechanism?

 

My understanding is that men and women attempt to kill themselves at more-or-less equal rates, but men tend to go for more spectacular (and successful) approaches.

This is incorrect. 

 

Male suicide on average (in modern "western" culture) is about seven times more common than female suicide. 

 

Men will kill themselves however they want, and usually without much regards for the cleanup. Women care about who finds them, which is usually why they use overdosing instead of bullets to the head or purposeful car crashes. 

 

One possible idea is that women worry more about the people they care for when they would be gone, which would keep a suicidially depressed woman from killing themselves. I'm not sure if I'm completely on board with the hypothesis, but I can see its merit. 

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1 hour ago, Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect said:

This is incorrect. 

 

Male suicide on average (in modern "western" culture) is about seven times more common than female suicide. 

 

Men will kill themselves however they want, and usually without much regards for the cleanup. Women care about who finds them, which is usually why they use overdosing instead of bullets to the head or purposeful car crashes. 

 

One possible idea is that women worry more about the people they care for when they would be gone, which would keep a suicidially depressed woman from killing themselves. I'm not sure if I'm completely on board with the hypothesis, but I can see its merit. 

 

Toxn is talking about attempted suicide, which is a different statistic. Papers published on that subject (using methodologies like "count how many people turn up at a hospital emergency department") seem to have a consensus that attempted suicide is biased the opposite way to successful suicide

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3 minutes ago, Xlucine said:

 

Toxn is talking about attempted suicide, which is a different statistic. Papers published on that subject (using methodologies like "count how many people turn up at a hospital emergency department") seem to have a consensus that attempted suicide is biased the opposite way to successful suicide

I don't trust those stats as much. 

 

College campuses will oftentimes find a drugged out female dead in the dorms and call it a suicide, when in reality it was a date-rape gone wrong. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good guys with a gun stop bad guy with a gun in a Walmart parking lot in Tumwater, WA.

 

http://www.ci.tumwater.wa.us/Home/Components/News/News/5850/529

 

On Sunday, June 17, 2018, at approximately 5:00 p.m., Tumwater Police Department responded to a report a possible DUI (a car driving in the wrong direction). While enroute to the alleged DUI, officers were dispatched to reports of a nearby carjacking with shots fired. Upon arrival at that location near Israel Road and Tyee Drive, officers contacted a 16-year old female victim who received non-life threatening injuries during the carjacking incident. The victim was treated at the scene by Tumwater Fire Department.

Police officers located the stolen car in a parking lot in the 5900 block of Littlerock Road. Just after 5:30 p.m., Thurston County 911 received multiple calls of shots fired in or around the Tumwater Walmart store and parking lot.

Tumwater Police Department has confirmed the suspect (from the earlier carjacking) entered the Walmart store, and fired shots at a display case, as reported by witnesses. There were no injuries to customers or employees at the store.

The suspect exited the store and attempted to carjack a vehicle in the parking lot, and shot the adult male occupant. The victim was treated for gunshot wounds by Tumwater Fire Department paramedics, and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, WA. His condition is unknown at this time.

The suspect then attempted a second carjacking at Walmart, and was approached by two armed civilians. The male suspect was fatally shot by one of the armed civilians. There are no other suspects in the carjacking incidents or reported shootings.

This is an ongoing investigation. Detectives are working at multiple crime scene locations, and interviewing witnesses.

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42 minutes ago, Sturgeon said:

In which Crowder becomes a prophet, apparently David Hogg's March for Our Lives tour has kicked off... To almost no media coverage, it seems.

 

Yeah, the mentally ill Hogg kid has Clock Boy'd himself and his political expiration date is long past pull, particularly after that grocery store stunt, just so long as a conservative media personality doesn't commit Laura Ingraham again by commenting on him.

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LA County Sheriffs Office seize over 550 rifles and handguns from convicted felon

 

http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article213429194.html

 

 

Authorities have seized more than 550 guns at two Southern California homes and made one arrest after getting a tip that a convicted felon was storing an arsenal.

Sixty-year-old Manuel Fernandez was arrested last week after Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and state and federal investigators raided his Agua Dulce home.

Officials Monday say the searchers found 432 rifles and handguns, then returned later and found 91 more hidden weapons.

 

...

 

Looks like a lot of military surplus rifles and hunting rifles heading to the evidence locker.

 

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So the good guy with a gun who shot the bad guy with a gun who was shooting and carjacking people in a Walmart parking lot...

 

Is a pastor.

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/pastor-who-shot-suspect-in-tumwater-carjacking-spree-tells-his-story/

 

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!

 

George isn’t just the pastor of the Oakville Assembly of God Church. He describes himself as a trained EMT with the town’s fire department, a certified gun-range safety officer and a licensed concealed-carry holder who has trained for active shooter situations.

 

...

 

 

They followed Day outside, watching as he tried to take more vehicles. At some point, George drew his own firearm. He watched Day shoot twice into the driver’s side of a vehicle, critically injuring a man, and start to move toward where George thought his family might be.

George got into a position “to have a safe shot” at Day.

 

Day tried to take another car. George shot him. Day fell to the ground.

George told Zamora to stay with Day while he retrieved a medical kit from his own vehicle, and administered aid to the injured man in the car.

 

The pastor's account of the event is here.

 

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4546436/Pastor-Release-Tumwater-Shooting.pdf

 

It's gratifying to see folks not only preparing by legally carrying a concealed handgun but also having a medical kit on hand which is every bit as valuable.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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