CPRC in the Washington Post: Guns and Suicides

In an article that spends most of its time quoting gun control advocates’ claims that gun ownership leads to suicide, one paragraph at the end of their long piece offered an alternative view by John Lott.

These laws are wrongfully “assuming guns actually contribute to suicide,” according to John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, which advocates for gun rights. In his view, they aren’t a factor in the suicide rate, citing a survey by the right-leaning Cato Institute. He argues that, in the absence of guns, people will instead choose a different suicide method and carry it through to completion. In Lott’s view, these gun restrictions actually increase the total death toll, as they don’t decrease suicide rates but leave people unarmed against violent intruders. . . . .