There's no resistance to simple background checks. We already have them. You cannot purchase a gun without an extensive background check plus someone's guns and gun rights can be removed temporarily for cause (someone threatening to commit suicide or murder, for example.)
I guess all the back and forth debate about background checks for private party sales, the "gun show loophole", and some of the comments within this very thread are all imagined then?
If I recall correctly among men the highest suicide rates are among those in the armed forces, former military who have seen war, or other professions like police.
These men are the ones most familiar with guns, and so I think they are killing themselves with an implement of familiarity.
Women who commit suicide are still more likely to use an overdose or poison. Same with murder even when there's access to guns.
As I stated, there are no doubt other factors at play. But the fact that "you think" it can be attributed to armed forces suicides doesn't mean much. Polices, where possible, should be supported by data.
An interesting tidbit can be found
here:
More than twice as many suicides by firearm occur in states with the fewest gun laws, relative to states with the most laws. We grouped states into three categories according to the number of firearm law provisions. States with the lowest number of gun law provisions (17 states) had an average of six provisions and were placed in the “least” category; states with a moderate number of laws (16 states) had an average of 19 provisions and were placed in the “moderate” category; and states with the most firearm laws (17 states) had an average of 61 provisions and were placed in the “most” firearm provisions category. Using CDC WONDER underlying cause of death data, we calculated the age-adjusted rate of suicide by firearm for each category of states. We find that suicide by firearm is highest in states with the fewest gun laws (10.8 per 100,000), lower in states with moderate gun laws (8.4 per 100,000), and the lowest in states with the most gun laws (4.9 per 100,000) (Figure 3). The analysis is not designed to necessarily demonstrate a causal relationship between gun laws and suicides by firearm, and it is possible that there are other factors that explain the relationship.
They admit that it doesn't establish causation, but its another bit of evidence that flies in the face of your reasoning that "people will just find another way" (paraphrasing). In fact, a later section of that article analyzes that assertion:
Non-firearm suicides rates are relatively stable across states suggesting that other types of suicides are not more likely in areas where guns are harder to access. To examine whether non-firearm suicides are higher in states where guns are more difficult to access, we used the state-level firearm law provision groups described above and calculated the age-adjusted rate for each group (states with the least, moderate, and the most firearm law provisions). The results of this analysis provide insight into whether there are other factors that may be contributing to the relationship between gun laws and firearm suicides, such as whether people in states that lack easy access to firearms have higher suicide rates by other means. The rate of non-firearm suicides is relatively stable across all groups, ranging from a low rate of 6.5 in states with the most firearm laws to a high of 6.9 in states with the lowest number of firearm laws. The absolute difference of 0.4 is statistically significant, but small. Non-firearm suicides remain relatively stable across groups, suggesting that other types of suicides are not more likely in areas where guns are harder to get (Figure 3). Though we do not observe an increase of suicide death by other means in states with less access to guns, there may still be differences across states that could explain these findings.
If you want gun suicide rates to go down, we can start with world peace, an end to generational war, and a sense of hope and a future for those who are charged with protecting society. You know, instead of berating them, spitting on them, cursing them and/or other threatening and demeaning behavior towards them.
Ah... I assume that this is a shot at those pesky Democrats! I'm a moderate and I could care less about party politics. We need to seek solutions to problems, and drawing lines about which policies are desirable and which ones are not simply because our political party tells us so isn't going to get us anywhere. "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" might sound good for a bumper sticker slogan and is great for riling up emotions, but such things are not very conductive to critical thought and problem solving.
Are there likely other factors contributing to the high rate of gun violence in our nation, outside of gun control? Absolutely. But you have to start somewhere, and background checks are (in my humble opinion) a good and logical place to start. I will say it again, what is so terrible about requiring a background check for a gun sale?
