"The United States is the only country in the world where guns are the primary means of suicide. In every age group except children 10 to 14, gun suicides outnumber all other forms of suicide.[1] (Among children age 10 to 14, hanging is the most common means.) Elsewhere, political leaders have concluded that there is a direct correlation between the number of firearms in circulation among the citizenry and the number of firearm deaths in the country."
"In 1996 in Australia, the government banned all automatic and semi­automatic guns after 35 people were killed in a mass shooting rampage. The result was that the number of gun suicides in Australia dropped in half immediately-and has stayed there-while the number of suicides by other means hasn't increased. Gun homicides in the country have fallen by half as well.[2]"
"Also in 1996, there was a mass shooting in Scotland where 13 children and a teacher were killed at an elementary school. Afterward, Great Britain banned military-style assault weapons and most handguns. Since then, gun suicides are rare. In addition, there are relatively few gun homicides, 50 to 60 per year, or about one for every 1 million people. By comparison, the United States, which has six times more people, has 160 times more gun homicides.[3]"
The United States is the only country where guns are the primary means of suicide, with gun suicides outnumbering other methods in every age group except children 10 to 14. Political leaders elsewhere associate higher firearm circulation with more firearm deaths. In 1996 Australia banned all automatic and semi­automatic guns after a mass shooting; gun suicides and homicides dropped by half without an increase in other-method suicides. Also in 1996 Great Britain banned military-style assault weapons and most handguns, and gun suicides became rare with comparatively few gun homicides. In 2019 New Zealand banned automatic and semiautomatic weapons after a mosque attack.
Read at Psychology Today
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