20 dead in Orlando gay club shooting

[Homeless Nutter]

Can you explain why America is at #50 for suicide, then, behind countries which have drastically restricted (to the point of outlawing) the private ownership of guns, such as Japan or South Korea? By your logic, we ought to be topping that list.

Not really. I never said that it was a simple correlation. Suicide rates are influenced by all sorts of factors - social, economic, cultural - which does not mean, that ready availability of easy to use killing tools has no part.  How large a part - that's debatable, sure, but some might argue, that whatever the potential decrease in suicides may be - it's at least worth considering.

I used the statistic, because UK and US are not dissimilar in culture, standard of living economy and mental health care - at least when compared with - say - Japan, where suicide ideation is imprinted in history, or other places where main religion does not openly condemn suicide. Or poor/developing countries, like eastern Europe, where pressure of young capitalism and lack of economic options can explain, at least partly, higher suicide rates.

As much as it pains me to do so, I have to agree with Huggy on this one. Guns may make suicides easier, but when a person wants to off himself, it will happen.

I think you're underestimating the power of impulse. Many people, who survived a suicide attempt never tried it again. And considering that guns are the most reliable suicide method (along cyanide, but who keeps cyanide around the house?) - having them as an option certainly influences the number of survivors.

I'd recommend http://lostallhope.com/ - lots of interesting statistics as well as links to studies. Here's one:

In a study done in Oxford UK7, 864 people that attempted suicide (and survived) were asked to rate, on a scale of 1 to 30, how intent they were on killing themselves (where 30 was totally intent, and 1 was hardly at all). The results are below:
Rating of suicidal intent
% of respondents
Low (0-6)
36.9%
Moderate (7-12)
33.9%
High (13-20
25.0%
Very High (21+)
4.2%
The message here is that two thirds of people that try to kill themselves are not that intent on succeeding.