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Very few people kill themselves with knives, but a ton do with hand guns.

And people in countries without such a gun culture do not have worse self defense outcomes than those with one, so that argument doesn’t seem to hold scientific water. No idea how you get to institutionalization in your argument, either.

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People choose the easiest tool available to them. A common method in Europe is a belt to the doorhandle which is more painful and slower than a bullet. Removing tools does not prevent the outcome, just increases the suffering.

As a counter point though, different suicide methods have different fatality probabilities. Handgun to the head has a really high fatality probability, rope to the neck less so. Removing a high fatality suicide method could cause people to turn to a less fatal method.

You sound like an efficient assets manager. People turn to a suicide because their life is miserable, often for objective reasons (e.g. cancer) and you may find it hard to believe, but it's their right to end it.

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