I was surprised to find out that prior to 1997, the greatest number of successful suicides was mostly due to poison. Yet I think more homes actually had guns in them during that time period than today. If it is not due solely to the availability of the weapon, could it possibly be the media, movies, violent video games, et al?

Today, about 33-35% of all U.S. households contain at least one firearm and nearly one in every four households contains a handgun. There are over 220 million guns in private hands in the U.S. (if they where ever collected what on earth would they do with them?)

In a December 1993 Gallup survey, 49% of U.S. households reported owning a gun

The 6 states with the highest average gun ownership rates for 1988 to 1997 were Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Arkansas. The 4 states with the lowest average gun ownership rates for 1988 to 1997 were Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Jersey

I have to be fair though and concede that this story (as unpleasant as the subject is) has merit as well:

http://www.haciendapub.com/gunpage13.html


>>I think the same, but I read once that before 1998, poison far outweighed guns in lethal suicide attempts. After that, the most lethal method used was guns. Surprising actually since before that more households had guns. I think guns are the most common method used followed by hanging or jumping from a height or drugs. You may find this interesting:
>>
>>http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/pdf/Miller%20Seminar.pdf
>>
>
>Thanks. I think slides 7, 9 and 11 make my case.
>
>Tamar