SSAA ACT facts on firearms and suicide
11 August 1998
Government wastes $500 million on gun buyback
Firearms and Suicide
Preventing youth suicide is a critical and daunting task. Some remedies appear more straightforward than others but all of very little to do with maintaining national gun laws.
For the years 1990-96 there was an average of 559 firearm deaths per year.
Most firearm suicides are not amongst teenage and young adult males.
79% of gun deaths are not caused by another person - they are self-inflicted.
Suicide figures
| Homicide and Suicide Deaths - Australia 1990-1996 | |||||||
| TYPE: | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 |
| Total Overall Homicides - all causes | 385 | 354 | 319 | 326 | 332 | 333 | 326 |
| Total Overall Suicides - all causes | 2,161 | 2,360 | 2,294 | 2,081 | 2,258 | 2,367 | 2,393 |
| Total Deaths | 2546 | 2714 | 2613 | 2407 | 2590 | 2700 | 2719 |
| Australian Bureau Statistics | |||||||
| Deaths by Firearm - all deaths - Australia 1990-1996 | |||||||
| TYPE: | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 |
| Homicide by firearm | 79 | 84 | 96 | 64 | 76 | 67 | 104 |
| Suicide by firearm | 486 | 505 | 488 | 431 | 420 | 388 | 382 |
| Firearm accidents | 30 | 29 | 24 | 18 | 20 | 15 | 30 |
| Firearm legal intervention | 4 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 0 |
| Firearm undetermined | 15 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 |
| Total death by firearm | 614 | 629 | 622 | 522 | 529 | 479 | 521 |
| % of firearm deaths that are suicides | 79.10% | 80.30% | 69.30% | 82.50% | 79.30% | 81.00% | 73.30 |
| Australian Bureau of Statistics | |||||||
The percentage of all suicides for the period 1990-96 that are firearm suicides is 19.5%. One in five suicides is a firearm suicide. There is clearly an undue focus upon suicide by firearm as it represents an easy target by those with another agenda. Method substitution has been clearly demonstrated to occur; when one means of suicide is not available, another will be used instead. Suicide by firearm has been declining for the last 18 years; suicide by other methods, particularly by hanging and car exhaust, has increased dramatically over the same period.
A senior Canberra bureaucrat said in 1997 at an international United Nations conference that "When a suicide occurs, it is often because there are firearms in the home that are unsafe and improperly stored." This foolish comment demonstrates the lack of understanding of the broader issues of suicide by those developing government policy. Such an approach simplistically focuses upon the means rather than the underlying causes. Australia has a suicide problem, not a firearms problem.
Studies that suggest suicides by firearm are on the increase in rural areas and attribute such results to lax firearm laws are deeply flawed and cannot be relied upon. The maintenance of so-called uniform gun laws has nothing to do with serious or effective suicide prevention strategies. Anti-firearm rhetoric will not save lives. Honestly addressing the wider social, economic and relational issues of suicide and in particular youth suicide will have a far more effective impact upon real suicide prevention.
How much Youth Suicide prevention would the $500 million 'gun buyback' have bought for our young people?
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