Yesterday former country star Mindy McCready committed suicide by shooting herself in the head. She had attempted suicide at least three times since 2005. Just last month David Wilson, her boyfriend and the father of their nine-month-old child, shot himself in the head. McCready apparently killed Wilson's dog before shooting herself.
McCready had a long history of drug abuse and alcoholism, arrest for fraudulently obtaining prescription medications, probation violation, and misdemeanor assault. She had been in "Celebrity Rehab 3," and is the fifth participant in the show to die and the third from season three alone.
McCready had a long-running custody dispute with her mother, who undoubtedly feared for the lives of her grandchildren — it is not uncommon for suicidal people to kill their children, spouses, girlfriends and boyfriends before taking their own lives. McCready had just regained custody of her son Zander in December. Thankfully, McCready just killed a dog.
You're twice as likely to die of gun suicide than you are to be shot by someone else. In 2010 20,000 of the approximately 30,000 gun deaths in the United States were suicides:
Guns are particularly lethal. Suicidal acts with guns are fatal in 85 percent of cases, while those with pills are fatal in just 2 percent of cases, according to the Harvard Injury Control Research Center.Gun suicides accounted for half of the 38,000 successful suicides in 2010. Poisoning and suffocation each accounted for about a quarter, but those methods are much less effective. There are an estimated 11 suicide attempts for every successful one, though this statistic is tricky to compute because not all attempts are reported. The risk of suicide is three times higher in homes with guns than it is in homes without.
The question is, why did McCready still have a gun? And would the NRA and the Republican Party defend her right to have one? Why doesn't the "pro-life" Republican Party's demand that people in such a tenuous mental state have their weapons confiscated not just for their own safety, but especially for the safety of their loved ones?
2 comments:
Japan Suicide Rate Still Among The World's Highest Due To Low Job Prospects
A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths
So you're saying that guns cause suicide? Then how do you explain that Japan—a country virtually without guns—has a suicide rate almost twice that of the U.S.? (19.8 per 100,00 vs. 10.3 per 100,000)
Obviously taking away their guns has stopped suicide in Japan. [/sarc]
Pill suicide attempts can only be considered less effective if you count the 'not really serious' call for help 'attempts'
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