Will Gun Control Prevent Suicides?

Anti-gun advocates cite the prevention of suicide as one of the reasons to further restrict gun ownership or as a reason for totally disarming the population eventually. But is disarmament effective in reducing the suicide rate of any given country?

The country with the highest suicide rate in the world is South Korea, where there are 24.7 suicides per 100,000 people. In 2007, there were estimated 510,000 firearms in civilian hands in South Korea. That number includes rifles and shotguns along with handguns. By 2017, that number had been reduced to just 79,000 firearms, with the number of handguns in civilian hands being just 1,758, the most popular firearm of choice for suicide. Yet, South Korea still has the highest suicide rate in the world.

Hungary ranks second with 21.0 suicides per 100,000 people. Only 22,963 handguns are in the hands of the citizenry and Hungary ranks 74^th out of 178 countries in firearm ownership. Yet it boasts a suicide rate second only to South Korea.

Japan has the third highest rate of suicide with 19.4 per 100,000 committing suicide. Japan has only a reported number of handguns in civilian hands totaling a mere 77. Yet, Japan has the third highest suicide rate in the world.

Japan’s suicide rate is 60% higher than the global average, according to the World Health Organization. In 2014, the year that statistic was compiled, 25,000 Japanese citizens killed themselves, about 70 a day. Among children ages 10-19 in Japan, suicide is the leading cause of death. And while the suicide rate among older adults is declining, the rate among this 10-19 age group seems to be increasing. The greatest number of deaths seems to coincide with the return to school after summer break, with bullying, family issues and stress being the greatest factors.

With the availability of guns obviously not being the greatest contributing factor, the Japanese government has decided to try another approach and is attempting to lower the suicide rate by 30% by 2026. Hiring counselors for school-age youth and creating 24-hour Help Lines to address mental challenges being the goal. Such efforts are overdue, as the suicide rate in Japan among the young is the highest it has been in 30 years.

Belgium has the fourth highest rate of suicides in the world with 18.4 per 100,000 people. Only 5.8% of households in Belgium have a firearm of any kind. Belgium has established the legality of assisted suicide and from 2002-2011 some 5,500 have chosen that option. Close to 1% of all total deaths in Belgium are from euthanasia.

Coming in fifth is Finland with a suicide rate of 16.5 per 100,000 people. Only 13% of households in Finland have guns of any kind and yet it boasts the fifth highest in suicides. Half of all suicides in Finland were committed by people who were under the influence of alcohol or dependent upon the substance, with males being more likely to commit suicide than females.  

A suicide occurs somewhere in the world every 40 seconds with about 800,000 people killing themselves annually. When factoring in all the violent deaths worldwide, including those from wars, suicide accounts for 15% or five times as many violent deaths each year than those occurring in war zones.

Compare that to the United States which has a suicide rate of 10.1 per 100,000. In America, the number of households with one or more guns stands at a whopping 42.0%, much higher that South Korea, Hungary, Japan, Belgium or Finland. In fact, the US has somewhere between 111,300,000 to 114,000,000 handguns in civilian hands. Note, that is millions, not thousands, and some estimates go as high as 350,000,000, enough for every man, woman and child in America to have a gun.

The United States, among the 178 countries studied, is ranked #1 in private gun ownership and yet we are #10 of the top 26 countries in suicide. We have more guns in private ownership than every other country in the world and if you believe the Liberal gun-haters, we should have the highest suicide rate. Guns don’t cause suicides, mental attitudes and the inability to cope with circumstances in life itself causes suicides.

In contrast to it all, Greece has 1,920,000 guns, counting legal and illegal ones, and amazingly it has the lowest suicide rate in the world, coming in at a small 2.9 of 100,000 people. The number of households with one or more firearms in Greece rests at 20.6%. Greece shows that although 1 in 5 homes has firearms in them, suicide is not a naturally occurring result of gun ownership.

As South Korea, Hungary, Japan, Belgium and Finland prove, if guns are not available, people who want to die will find another way. With a cultural stigma attached in many cultures in the world to suicide, it can be assumed that the number of reported suicides might be lower than the actual number, making it a bigger problem than anyone will admit to.

True to form, beginning in 2019, Democrats have already vowed to make gun control a top priority when they regain power in the House come January. It is their pet cause regardless of the facts. If they really cared about public safety, guns would not be the target of their Liberal agenda. Mental illness should be. But then, that would not be a very popular campaign slogan to run on, now would it?

The Left's Newest Useful Idiot, David Hogg

The Left has made a rock star of David Hogg, as he hogs the spotlight (I couldn't resist) that he has been thrust into, to gain attention for their anti-America and anti-gun agenda. He wants his opinions to be taken seriously and at the same time calls himself a "kid" who is fed up with gun violence. So, which is it? Are you an adult who has legitimate ideas or are you a spoiled kid being used as a puppet for those who need a new voice for their nonsense?

Does anyone really think he would be given all this press and praise and fame if he were AGAINST gun control, or against the trashing of the Constitution? Of course, he wouldn’t have gained any attention, except as perhaps a nut case and then he’d get summarily dismissed with a little patronizing, "Well, bless his little heart."

David Hogg has had his 15 minutes of fame and we have had enough of him too. Get back in class and out of our faces. Take the time to find out what it takes to be a real American who contributes to society instead of trying to manipulate it with clenched fists and tough-sounding sound bites. Take the time to learn the value of the Constitution and why and how it has shaped the greatest country in the history of the civilized world and get a grip on why it must be defended, not attacked or dismantled.

The Left needs new voices to promote their nonsense because the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, and CNN’s talking heads aren't getting the job done. Liberals love a good crisis and a good act of violence. They stand tall on the bodies of dead children and point attention and blame at the NRA and against guns, the inanimate objects they blame for all the violence. That is easier to do that than to address the troubled souls who commit the violence. Guns don't walk into schools, malls or churches and shoot people. They are merely tools and sometimes they are used in atrocious ways, but then so are knives, baseball bats, and speeding vehicles.

The FBI claims more people are killed every year by hands and feet than by assault-style rifles but hands and feet cannot be a target for liberty-haters, but guns and scary-looking “assault rifles” can be. Knives accounted for 1,604 deaths in 2016 while only 374 were attributed to rifles of all sorts. So where is the cry to ban knives? Logic has nothing to do with anti-gun arguments.

Let's get real about this debate and speak to the good guns actually do. When they are used to stop crimes by average citizens, we get silence from the media. Their reporting is all one-sided and we hear only what advances their agenda. They sling their lies, half-truths and misconceptions knowing if they do it often enough, some of it will stick and be taken as gospel. A lie told enough times will eventually be seen by some of the gullible and truly uninformed, as fact. But the truth remains the truth and lies, no matter how fervently they are believed, will still be lies.

No problem can be addressed effectively without taking into consideration the truth and not just the myths surrounding it. Anti-gun organizations twist facts into falsehoods and parade them as the gospel truth, doing a disservice to all Americans, including those that would benefit from the truth but are so adamant in spreading lies that they cannot see they harm themselves too.

Falsehoods serve no one. Include both sides of the story in the conversation and let the chips fall when they may. Stop demonizing everyone who doesn't believe like you do. If that's all you got to fight back with, you have already lost. That is what adults do and what kids will never understand, not even 17-year-olds like David Hogg. The system they are trying to destroy is what makes this country work and what makes it great.

They, like most people, do not like being lied to but somehow, they think it is their duty and right, of course, for the "greater good," to lie to you and I. Imagine the world we would live in if lying was not possible and everyone had to tell the truth. Since it would ever come to that, we have to sort out the lies for the truths and act accordingly. It is on us to declare our side and to remember that the truth will defend itself in the end. Lies will always lose at some point, at least, we must believe that and stand for the truth when we can. Silence sometimes has the same effect as consent.  

As for the flash-in-the-pan wanna-be celebrities who seek to destroy America for the sake of their utopia-style vision of what they think this country should be, just refuse to give them your attention. Let them fade away into irrelevancy. America is too powerful and important to be destroyed by mindless puppets who parrot what they are told, whether true or not.

Sometimes we just need to let the truth out of its cage, and like a lion, it will defend itself. As for the peddlers of lies, myths and uninformed opinions, well, “Bless their little hearts.”

Drug Connections to Mass Shootings

Although the recent school shooting is blanketing the news, everyone is avoiding the question as to WHY these mass shootings occur when the answer might be all too obvious. It is too easy for lazy minds to blame it on guns, as if guns walked to the schools and malls and pulled their own triggers. Maybe there is a common link we don’t want to see.

Drugs for anxiety and mental challenges carry the warning that they may cause harmful and suicidal thoughts, so why don’t we see the possible connection? Kids are placed on drugs in their preteens and grow up dependent on them and their altered thinking seems normal to them. Not everyone on these drugs is off the chart like these people are who choose to murder, but it is a common denominator among them that news outlets refuse to consider or even talk about.

After all, almost every commercial break carries an ad for one drug or another. A drug company pulling their ads would cost them big and the bottom line is more important than any safety issue to them.

I quickly and plainly make no assertion that everyone on such drugs are potential killers for that would be ludicrous. Most people benefit greatly from their help and they enable them to live healthy and functional lives when otherwise they would be challenged daily due to the effects of depression and anxiety. Most of our investigations and questioning, however, happens to be conducted after the fact and there does seems to be a link, albeit ignored by many.

In June 2014, Aaron Ybarra, killed one student and wounded two others with a shotgun at the Seattle Pacific University. His plan was to kill as many people as possible and then kill himself. Two years before, Ybarra admitted that he had been prescribed the antidepressant Prozac and antipsychotic Risperdal. His counselor said that he was taking Prozac.

In Austin, Texas in August 1966, Charles Whitman shot 16 people from a university tower while on amphetamines and barbiturates.  In March of 1981, John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. He was on Valium at the time. William Cruse killed 6 people in 1987 while on psychiatric drugs.

Jeffery Dahmer killed and dismembered 17 people while on tranquilizers and anti-depressants in 1991. In 1997, Jeremy Strohmeyer was charged with the rape and murder of a seven-year old girl while on Dexerdrine, known to cause hallucinations, confusion, anxiety and violent behavior and mood swings.

In the famous shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007, where 32 were killed, prescription drugs “related to the treatment of psychological problems” were found by investigators among the shooter’s effects.   

In 2001, Andrea Yates drowned her five children while under the influence of Effexor and Remeron, known to cause thoughts of suicide in young people as well as impulsive, irritable, agitated, hostile, aggressive, restless, hyperactive (mentally or physically) behavior, and the possibility of becoming even more depressed. The list goes on and includes the most recent shootings as well.

According to British psychiatrist Dr. David Healy, a founder of RxISK.org, an independent website for researching and reporting on prescription drugs, 90 percent of school shootings over more than a decade have been linked to a widely prescribed type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs.

There is no question that the mind-altering drugs influence behavior and therefore they carry warnings of “suicidal thoughts and feelings of violent behavior.” 8.7 million Americans contemplate suicide each year and 1.1 million actually act on those thoughts.

253 million prescriptions for antidepressants are filled every year in the United States, the second most prescribed drug in America, second only to cholesterol-lowering drugs.

An alarming fact is that a study in 2010 found that effectiveness of antidepressant drugs to be “minimal or nonexistent, on average, in patients with mild or moderate symptoms.” Yet, there is ample evidence on the other hand that such behavior-altering drugs “intensify violent thoughts and behaviors, both suicidal and homicidal, especially among children.”

So, is there a connection between these mass shootings and violent behavior we have seen in recent years? It appears a very distinct possibility. Personally, I think the pharmaceutical companies, or politicians whose pockets are lined with campaign donations by them, are reluctant to make that connection because it is a multi-billion-dollar industry and as we all know, money talks.

The next time you hear some politician giving lip-service to “protecting our children” especially after a school shooting, as they always do, ask yourself where their main priority is, safety of our children, or winning their next campaign and getting rich with donations and contributions?

In fact, the next time you have the opportunity to question one, ask them yourself.

This Is Not My America

Most of us remember the Westerns when the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black ones. Telling enemies from friends used to be easier and politicians today do little more than obscure our vision. It is more important than ever to be vigilant in the protecting of our freedoms and rights in America.

As a child I remember students taking turns reading the Bible as we began our school day. Then we cited the Lord’s Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Children then grew up with a profound respect for America.

During the early years of this country the Bible was the book children learned to read from, along with the New England Primer which taught children the ABC’s based on Biblical truths. The Primer was the second best selling book after the Bible.

Many of our universities were started by preachers. Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, King’s College, Brown Rutgers and Dartmouth were begun by Christians. A quick view of what most universities have become, bastions of atheism, Communism and liberalism, shows they have forsaken the ideals upon which they were created.

Misguided politicians and anti-God activists fight to remove the Ten Commandments from every corner of public life in efforts to negate the role it has played in creating our society.

Somehow we’ve forgotten the sentiment of people like Patrick Henry who said, “The Bible is worth all the other books which have ever been printed.” Such people were willing to put their lives on the line for ideals that today we easily discard.

Inscribed in the Lincoln Memorial are his immortal words, “We are highly resolved that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” Activists who deny our Godly roots seek to abort that celebrated birth of freedom.

This is not my America.

Along with Biblical principles that are being outlawed and demeaned, patriotism is also a causality of the cultural war being waged today. Waving the American flag has always been a sign of respect, appreciation and gratitude for this great country. Being proud to be an American now has become a racist thing to be because some mistakenly feel that to display patriotism will alienate those who do not share that sentiment.

Children wearing shirts designed after the flag are sent home chased by shouts of “racist” and “bigot”. Foreigners who come here proudly display their flag of origin but somehow being proud to be an American is supposed to make us feel guilty. In California the flag of Mexico has been seen flying above the American flag. Not only is it a violation of proper flag etiquette, it shows a contempt for this country that many foreigners have. Such people come here to turn American into another Mexico not to become proud Americans.

Burning the American flag is considered free speech and hailed as an art form. Walking on the flag by Muslims in New York City is considered protected speech. Their calls for jihad against America is considered free speech instead of being viewed as a call for insurrection.

Patriotism is dying and the Stars and Stripes will soon be replaced with a meaningless, multi-colored flag of Diversity. No country in the history of man has survived such a change.

This is not my America.

There is an assault being levied against religion in America. Catholics are told their religious convictions don’t matter and they must endorse and even supply contraceptives in violation of their long-held beliefs. Churches are being threatened with removal of their tax-exempt status if they become politically involved according to their conscience.

Muslim students who freely opted to attend Catholic Universities are demanding that statues of Saints and crosses be removed from the college landscape because it offends them. Pandering to demands of Muslims in America is growing. It is called Dhimmitude in accordance with Mohammed’s establishment of a doctrine demanding compliance from all non-Muslims to Muslim wishes.

This is not my America.

Christians who passed out copies of the Gospel of John to people on the streets of Dearborn, Michigan were forced to stop during last years Arab Festival, even though they were not in the festival area but a full block away. This year, while wearing “Jesus” shirts & carrying posters, Christians were removed from the area by police officers after Muslims began throwing rocks, full water bottles and anything else they could get their hands on at them.

Muslims, from children to adults, shouted profanity-laced slurs at the Christians but were never asked to stop. Instead the police decided to look the other way even with video evidence on hand that they refused to view.

The Dearborn Police Department, in their opinion, felt that if the Christians had not been on those streets in America, no problem would exist. Dearborn is being taken over by a growing Muslim population and Americans are neglected their right to free speech in favor of a Muslim’s right to throw stones as an exercise of their “free speech”. (Speaking to a Muslim about Christianity in an Islamic country is incidentally against the law.)

This is not my America.

The world is faced with the greatest threat to its very survival in the history of mankind, radical Islam. Yet when a devout Muslim soldier kills 14 people, including an unborn baby, wounds 33 others, all while shouting “Allahu Ackbar” (the “God is Greatest” Islamic phrase coined by Mohammed 1400 years ago when the severed head of an enemy was thrown at his feet) it is called merely “workplace violence”.

Recognizing an enemy is the first step in being able to fight that enemy. Islam is an enemy we are unprepared to fight because it is an enemy we are unprepared to call an enemy no matter how much evidence there is to reinforce the fact.

Light and darkness cannot exist together. Even the smallest candle will chase darkness from a room but instead this administration chooses to extinguish our candle in preference to the darkness rather than let it shine.

This is not my America.

We currently have a president whose favorite past time, next to golfing, partying and campaigning, is blaming others for his own ineptness. After almost 4 years in office, increasing the national debt from $9 trillion in 2009 to a staggering $15.5 trillion as of 2012, increasing the food stamp recipients from 23.5 million to 39.5 million, and watching home ownership fall to the lowest point since 1965, Obama has taken no responsibility for having played any role in it. After all this time he claims it is still George Bush’s fault.

John F. Kennedy knew that being presidential meant taking responsibility for what happened under his watch even if it was not his fault. That is leadership. Obama instead thrives on twisting the numbers to see that he is never held accountable for anything from the rising debt to rising unemployment, which is the worse since WWII.

This is not my America.

Almost every drop of gas we pump into our cars puts money in the pockets of countries that hate America. We fund Islamic Jihad against our own selves while having leadership that refuses to allow for more oil drilling so that we can cut the apron strings that bind us to ideologies that seek our elimination. While halting much off shore drilling as unsafe, Obama sent millions of dollars to Venezuela for their off shore drilling endeavors.

George W. Bush increased domestic drilling for oil 116% over his predecessor Bill Clinton. Obama, however, placed unreasonable restrictions on drilling and as a result drilling is down 36% during his term. We are going in the wrong direction if we are to be in control of our own destiny. America needs to be free of foreign countries that demand our money to fund their campaigns against us.

This is not my America.

With a president that has conducted an almost non-ending Apology Tour aimed at the United States, America is rapidly losing the respect of the world. Our enemies see it as weakness and are emboldened, not placated, by it.

Political Correctness did not exist when I was growing up. We “called a spade a spade”, black black and white white. Today there are so many colors of gray that one can hardly keep track of what is to be praised and what should be criticized. In reality, the end zones have been changed like at the middle of a football game. We have changed what we move toward. What was once good and moral is now bad and immoral and soon to be discarded.

Commonsense has always told us that not everything can be tolerated, not everything is good for us and that not everything permitted is beneficial. Commonsense has become a causality of this cultural war as well.

This is not my America.

There is not a single study that shows gun control laws have ever been effective in reducing crime. The bottom line is that “more guns equals less crime”. Citizens owning guns creates a hostile work environment for criminals. It is supposed to and will continue to as long as we legally retain the God-given right to protect ourselves.

President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have both vowed their support for the UN Small Arms Treaty which will in effect, should it be ratified by the Senate, nullify the Second Amendment and our right to bear arms. They are attempting to surrender the sovereignty of America to a foreign organization that has repeated stood in opposition to our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

As Senator, Obama voted against a bill that would give homeowners the right to defend themselves in their own homes with a handgun. As president he has more guns around him daily than any other president. He obviously considers his life more valuable than those of ordinary citizens.

Today 84,999,987 firearm owners did not kill anyone. Read that again. This inconvenient fact is ignored by Liberal gun-control advocates. Commonsense plays no part in their agenda.

Gun control does work, however. Just ask Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Qaddafi, Kim Jong II, Idi Amin. They knew that before they could advance their tyrannical agenda against their people, the citizenry had to be disarmed. (We don't need his college transcripts to know that Obama was present for that class. I imagine he got an A+.)

This is not my America.

For America to survive we must remember our true roots and find the strength, no matter how unpopular it may be, to embrace the principles that made us great in the first place. Once lost, freedoms are rarely ever regained.

Today as I survey this country, this is not my America. But as long as a remnant of people still love America, what it has always stood for and will stand up tall and defend it against all enemies “foreign and domestic,” it can be again.