Furthermore, a very detailed, in-depth Harvard study firmly concluded that absent firearms, the suicide rate DOES NOT CHANGE, specifically stating that those who wish to take their own lives will find a way, using whatever means is available.
There are several stats that get tossed around to condemn firearms. In aggregate, they can sound convincing to those not familiar with differences between correlation and causality, or who don't hear other figures. Speaking of this nation only:
The old saw about having a gun in the home increasing the risk of suicide or homicide by some factor. Classic correlation vs causality. Very rarely does anyone ever develop lung cancer and then decide, "What the heck, might as well start smoking." In contrast, someone at higher risk of criminal violence (eg poor/bad neighborhood, engaged in criminal conduct, under threat from another) seems quite likely to consider obtaining a firearm. Similarly, someone who really considers and plans to end his own life might take time to acquire a firearm to do the deed.
On another front, firearms are used in over half (~55%) of
successful suicides. But they are used in only a small fraction of
attempted suicides. It just turns out that firearms have a success rate of 85 to 90% compared to 5 to 10% for many other methods. In fact, the term
parasuicide is used in some literature to describe apparent suicide attempts where death was not really the desired outcome. The effort was really intended as a non-fatal, self-harm, cry for help.
Anti-gun groups also tout the number of suicides attempts that take place very quickly between first plan and attempted suicide. These groups suggest that removing lethal means will result in fewer successful suicides. They argue that if a person committing suicide in a rash moment doesn't have a highly fatal gun, he might use a different, more survivable method. Of course, it is a bit tough to ask successful suicide victims whether they really wanted to end their life, how long they'd been contemplating suicide, or other questions.
I'm left to ask whether it isn't entirely possible that those who have given suicide serious thought, planned it out, and really want to end it all are not more likely to use a gun knowing it is highly fatal, while those doing things in a hurry, perhaps not really wanting to die, are more likely to use cutting, attempted drug ODs, CO poisoning, hanging, or other methods will a higher chance of being saved. After all, is there anyone who doesn't understand that the typical self-inflicted gun shot to the head is very likely to be fatal? Does anyone expect or hope to survive a self-inflicted gun shot to the head?
I just haven't seen any studies attempting to answer this question directly.
The Harvard study by Kates and Mauser you cite seems to come the closest in terms of arguing that the presence of firearms doesn't materially affect overall suicide rates. But obviously, it is not attempting to address the underlying reasons for suicide.
Charles