What haunts everyone’s mind- the fear of death. The answer may sound discernible to many but not to one and all as the recent reports portray an all the way unconventional picture. Doesn’t it astonish that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. People under 35 have been the 10 pointer target for the suicide deaths as their figures are just exploding. It seems hard to accept that the rationale behind such practices is the possession of fire-arms by themselves and their family members.
Talking about gun violence in the United States, we talk about homicides. But there are approximately twice as many suicides as homicides annually, and the majority portion of them involving guns. According to a new research by Matthew Miller, a Northeastern University professor of Health Sciences, most people have no idea that suicide is the most trivial lot of violent death.“There’s widespread misperception about what causes violent death in the United States”, said Miller, who co-authored the study with eminent researchers from Harvard and the University of Washington. He quoted “Most people think that homicide by gun greatly outstrips suicide by any method”.
This skewed perception can have serious repercussions. People who view homicide as a likely threat may procure a gun to safeguard their family, or keep their gun loaded and accessible. But possessing that gun puts everyone in the house vulnerable to die with a suicide attempt. Miller expressed “The evidence is really clear on this point,” and added “If you live in a place where it’s hard to get your hands on guns, you’re less likely to die by suicide”.
Harminder Singh
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