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NewsWise recently reported on a study by Rutgers that was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine:

People who purchase a firearm during the pandemic are more likely to be suicidal than other firearm owners, according to a Rutgers study.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that about 70 percent of those who bought a firearm during the COVID-19 pandemic reported having suicidal thoughts throughout their lives, compared to 37 percent of the rest of the community of gun owners.

It would appear these findings are largely supported by a guy by the name of Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, associate professor at Rutgers, and author or the book Guns and Suicide.

Yes, Anestis is firmly in the “Blame the Guns” camp. He shared his thoughts on gun sales during COVID-19:

“People who were motivated to purchase firearms during COVID-19 might have been driven by anxiety that leaves them vulnerable to suicidal ideation. While this does not guarantee an increase in suicide rates, it represents an unusually large surge in risk made more troubling by the fact that firearms purchased during COVID-19 may remain in homes beyond the pandemic.”

Anestis went on to say the following about what he feels the suicide risks are for people buying guns during the pandemic:

“The increase in firearm purchases is concerning given that suicide is three times more likely in homes with firearms, and there is a hundred-fold increase in an individual’s suicide risk immediately following the purchase of a handgun. And unsafe firearm storage increases that risk.”

It’s accurate to say suicides attempted with a firearm have a higher completion rate than many other forms of suicide attempts but the firearms themselves do not cause suicidal ideation.

Are people more likely to feel depressed when forced to stay “safe at home” and banned from eating out, going to movies, or attending social gatherings? Well, yes, and here’s where I’m looking at a lot of governors out there. Power trip much? But your gun doesn’t make you suicidal.

Suicide is a topic that needs to be discussed more openly in the gun world (see Walk The Talk America). The stigma has to be removed and solutions must be offered to the legitimate fears people have of losing their guns if they report their depression to doctors. Bring red flag laws into that situation and things get even worse.

But the idea that people buying a gun during the pandemic must be suicidal is, in my opinion, flat out ludicrous.

Thoughts?

 

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92 COMMENTS

    • When I take office, I will issue an executive order that every gun owner will be entitled to 200 rounds of ammo free, each month, so that we can practice, and have fun with family and friends. That will drive the suicide rate down.

      • 200 rounds? That’s barely enough for a warm-up to my practice each week! Including regular weekly & monthly competitions I need more like 1,000 rounds a week.

    • I was thinking if you didnt want to have a gun ….right now….that you were suicidal.

      Especially if you live in a leftist-occupied city.

    • If you can find the ammo. Went to Scheels yesterday, and they had only one lonely box of wrist breaking 44 mag. The .556 shelves now hold binoculars. .

      • My local Scheels has had a mix of 9mm in stock, mostly Blazer aluminum, steel cased 223/5.56, but those go quickly. It will either be a 1 yearish trip back to “semi normal” availability, or 4 to 8 year trip…..

        • Here everything but cheap bulk shotgun trap loads and oddball non-martial hunting rifle calibers like 7×64 Sharpe & Hart disappeared this spring. There is no .22, no buckshot in any shotgun caliber, no handgun ammunition other than the very rare box of .25 ACP or .480 Ruger, nothing for modern rifles.

          Pump and semiauto shotguns all disappeared this summer. There’s nothing left on the racks but cheap single-shots and high-dollar doubles. Semiauto rifles vanished first then lever actions. No rifles are left but bolt-actions in oddball calibers like .25/06 and .35 Whelen, most of them without even iron sights. Handguns all disappeared this summer too, all but a handful of high-dollar stuff like semi-custom production Glocks. Plus cowboy guns in .357 and .45 Colt, for which there has been no ammo since around March. There are a few 10/22s and Savage 64s on the shelves, but the .22 LR ammo all vanished around April and none’s been seen on a store shelf within driving distance of me since then.

          I’ve been telling people since the panic started this winter: you people waited a year too long. Depending on how the court cases pertaining to the election shake out, we’re looking at 6 months to a year before there’s more inventory of anything on the shelves and at least a year before prices come down to what they were a year ago–or we’re looking at bans, your local cops kicking down your door to door to confiscate your guns, and the next civil war in the near term. Kamala & Co. mean it this time. They’re out for blood–ours.

        • The gun store I work at part time routinely gets shipments of 9mm, .223, 5.56, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. We get pistols, ARs and shotguns into inventory almost daily. Part of the difference is larger buying power as it is a chain. So, there are firearms available. Prices have gone up some, but we don’t gouge.

  2. What if in the middle of the pandemic there is social unrest, groups of otherwise peaceful people burning and looting businesses and homes, lighting up cars and the like?

    Could just a few of these firearms purchases have everything to do with the rioting and not the pandemic?

  3. Well, if this is true then I should be dead several times over.

    I’m not, so … Wait, am I a bot? I post, therefore I am?

    • I’m looking at it this way –

      If it really was Leftists buying all those guns during the panic, and if they feel suicidal, it’s a *win* in my book! 🙂

      • 🤣
        Ordinary I’d agree with you but those sick leftist SOB’s seem to like taking a few dozen kids or defenseless bystanders with them when they do the deed.
        If they’d just off themselves then the world would be all the merrier!

  4. Well.. . Of course it’s the gun’s fault…. there’s no other way it could be….d a m suicide machine, I tell ya…

  7. So maybe we should end all the lockdown nonsense and let people go back to being happy well adjusted gun owners?

    • That sir, would assume they want you to be in control of your own life. The leftards are not magnanimous. If you wanna protest your own privilege, and your guilt, which you should have no doubt about that, they may allow you to gather in groups (mobs) peacefully of course, we cannot have looting and such.

      Man if 10% of us POTG decided to rise up and bear, they would know the power we keep under control. Like my 120 lb Dutch Shepard, he can rip my face off, instead of a lick here and there. Our “Licks” would not be attached and moving a little faster. They seem to wanna keep pushing, one day they will push too far, sooner rather than later.

  8. I’m still finding deals to add to my arsen… ah, um… meager collection of sporting arms and historic relics.

  9. If the “hundred-fold increase” “immediately following (for how long?) is true, it’s attributable to someone who has decided to commit suicide and has purchased the gun to do it. Guns aren’t sitting around the house with a siren call to suicide. Similarly, I would expect a similar increase in suicide probability for suicidal people stepping out on ledges, buying rope, buying sleeping pills, etc.

    • Downunder authorities knee-jerk reacted with usual haste and ignorance when they saw Americans buying guns. Gun shops were declared non-essential and ordered to close in several states. Ranges were closed too. State firearms registries stopped processing new license applications. But the registries did process permits to acquire.

      If the authorities knew the regulations, they would know with the ranges closed, people could not get the paperwork completed to apply for a license from the clubs. And no license, no application for purchase.

      Other people were trying to buy guns ahead of expected price rises or to take advantage of special offers.

      I did buy a new gun in the period, but it was a long-term planned purchase. Not a panic buy.

      • Hi Southern

        My local range is fully open and all the gun shops that I visit are fully open in Qld. Brief attempt to shut some gun shops but as was pointed out to government idiots our local shop is also the hardware, rural supplies and stock feed business.

        • NSW ranges reopened with social distance restrictions back about June and the restrictions were eased to full operations a few months later.

          But everyone went into full panic mode.

    • Well, zero multiplied by 100 is still zero, so there’s that, I suppose…

      “There is a hundred-fold increase in an individual’s suicide risk immediately following the purchase of a handgun” absolutely reeks of pulled-it-out-of-his-assness. It’s the kind of claim that should make you immediately suspect cherry-picked cases, worthless data, or faulty assumptions — most likely all three.

  10. The important bit other than the top pull quote here is
    “The study found that, of those who bought a firearm during the pandemic, 70 percent had experienced suicidal thoughts throughout their lives, 56 percent had experienced suicidal thoughts during the previous year and 25 percent had experienced suicidal thoughts during the previous month. By contrast, individuals who did not buy guns during the pandemic were only 56 percent, 24 percent and 12 percent respectively likely to have had suicidal thoughts during those time periods.”

    Reading that, it seems that “experienced suicidal thoughts throughout their lives” is not speaking of chronic suicidal ideation, but if you EVER experienced suicidal ideation.

  13. It appears that Rutgers is describing some of the first time “panic buyers” of firearms in this plandemic.

  15. A biased Rutgers joke study is just about as useful as their football program.
    Millions of dollars wasted and still can’t buy a Big 10 championship – and never will.

    I live in NJ and wouldn’t get caught dead with a Big Red R sticker on my vehicle. It’s garbage advertising for state-sponsored brainwashing, and a great reason why my kids were sent out-of-state to the oldest private military college in the US for a real educational degree.

    • Edward Kenway,

      I lived a few years in Highland Park, across the stream from New Brunswick and Rutgers. My wife took classes there. That was back in the 80s. It was a socialist cesspool back then and has only gotten worse. Picture a cesspool black hole, an inescapable, swirling drain.

      When I finally take office, I will take action.

  16. If the reporting is to be believed, there has been a record number of first-time gun buyers in the US this year. It stands to reason to me that people who have had past suicidal thoughts (at least that they’re willing to admit to) may have been more reluctant to own a firearm, but that current circumstances have changed what they perceive as the bigger threat to their own safety.

    • Juice,

      You are into something. People are purchasing firearms because the want to stay alive and they want to protect their families and property.

      When I finally take office, I will take action.

  17. “In other news, a new poll has found that 1 out of 3 Democrats are just as stupid as the other two. ”….and will vote for Creepy. Sleazy, Senile Socialist Puppet #46 Joey and the real threat Kamal Toe.

  19. Wow good thing I haven’t bought a gat during the scamdemic! Suicidal is expecting gubmint to give a chit about you during this BS. It’s about control kid’s…

    • FWW,

      The Great Reset will eliminate suicide because the government will provide for all needs in exchange for your property and freedom.

      When I finally take office, I will take action.

  20. They misspelled prudent. Buying a firearm during a pandemic rife with social unrest and people who who have coexist stickers on their cars want to see you dead is prudent if you value your life and the lives if those you are responsible for.

  21. I’d fancy buying a gun during the pandemic but with background checks taking forever and ever, gun supplies along with ammo cleaned out like butt-wipe at the grocery store, it’s all but futile! I can’t be suicidal because I can’t buy a gun!!! I’ll just have to take vitamin D and cheer the hell up!

    • MLEE,

      Don’t forget to take vitamin K2 with that D2.

      When I finally take office, I will take action.

  22. Just pulled the trigger on a new shotgun. I thought it was because I got excited about busting clays and quail. Who knew?

  23. Some people commit suicide.
    Some people commit suicide by use of a firearm
    Water is wet.

    Video and exclusive interviews at 10pm.

  24. This is just so much B S , I’m thinking about shooting myself ,,,
    Shut the F Up.
    Any retard that wants to do him or her self in can pick lots of ways to do it ,
    Guns are messy & cause a lot of anxiety for the families & usually the dead ass’s girl or boy friend, that’s what it’s all about.
    Trying to make them feel guilty for something .
    The only real loser is the DUMMY that ended his or her life… no sympathy,,,🖕🏿

  25. Actually it means I read an article on this here website so now I’m looking for a Glock 21 to convert into a .45 Super.

  26. Japan has a higher suicide rate than the US, they have no guns and we have more than 1 per person .

    Academic studies are great. My answer to Japan’s suicide rate? The WATER.

  27. The only suicide I’ve been contemplating is assisted. The kind when some Damn Fool Leftist try’s to take my 2nd Amendment Rights and the tools that are enumerated by it. I’ll be more than willing to assist them on their way to Hell. Keep Your Powder Dry.

    • Rusty,

      Thank you for posting that.

      People are going to suffer and die because the left-wing oligarchs spread pervasive, blaring, well-coordinated lies. When the current election is over-turned, the street-by-street violence will begin because Zuckerberg et allis will scream and yell that the right has executed a coup. Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Apple are treasonous.

      When I take office, I will take action.

    • Alternator,

      Given the squalid, perverse ignorance, hatred, lies, laziness, and prejudice my daughter is seeing in the teaching staff at her college, you may be spot-on!!

      I thank god that my daughter sees through it all.

    • Tenured professors certainly put out lots of idiotic nonsense – because they’re no longer accountable for any misdeed below the level of being found with a dead girl or a live boy in their bed.

      The COVID panic is hitting academia in the budget very, very hard, and this is perhaps our best chance to purge academia and public schools of a great deal of nonsense they’ve been peddling for the last three decades.

  34. If I’m suicidal, it’s because of reading worthless “medical” studies indicating another obscure reason why I’m evil for exercising my Constitutional rights.

  35. The Crimson Pirate, a Professor at No University Anywhere, has stated that anyone who wants to take guns from lawful gun owners is clearly suicidal.

    • There needs to be more articles with those kind of headlines.

      “Study suggest that POTG should be left alone.”

  36. Every time you think you’ve heard the stupidest thing out of academia you could possibly encounter, some blithering academic come forward and effectively says “Watch be top that.”

    And then they proceed to set a new bar for academic stupidity.

    I firmly believe now that the whole of academia is a threat to the western civilization – not just for their stupidity about guns, but on everything: COVID, free speech, the “woke” movement, you name it. Academia needs to be demolished.

  38. They create their own reality and get paid to do so. Meanwhile democrats keep calling for more censorship of opinions they don’t like. What could possibly go wrong?

  41. Journalist on MSM rag says something inane and/or demonstrably false…
    Leftists:”See we have to eliminate guns!”
    Americans: “Bull$h1T! Who believes this crap?!”

  42. Given that millions of people just bought guns (which is why we can’t find guns or ammo now!), millions for the first time, so…where’s the millions of suicides? This study is ridiculous on its face. It’s like the study a few years ago finding that smoking while pregnant is implicated in premature births. Since virtually everyone smoked, including pregnant women, from the early 1930s to the early 1970s, where’s the rash of premature births during those decades? There isn’t any. The study was a pointless statistical exercise, just like this one.

  43. Strange, I just picked up a new gun and don’t feel the least bit depressed or suicidal. Fact is I’m rather happy about it. Also just received an order for reloading supplies for a couple handgun caliber’s I’ve been waiting on. Can’t buy ready made ammo? Might want to check into rolling your own. Only thing getting short of is .22 LR for the kids to use. ( by kids, I mean my adult children and now the grand kids) They like to come out here and terrorize the local squirrel population.

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