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Comment by natvert | Hacker News Reader

Firearm related X is the wrong thing to measure. Obviously if guns are truly banned, there will be no gun crime. There will still however be knife crime, fist crime, car crime, etc.

The thing we want to measure is if we can (as a country) live our lives in peace. Better measures of this might be all crime, violent crime, life-span related measures, or even mental health and drug abuse.

Banning one specific thing does not change human nature. We need to take a holistic view to address many issues underlying violent crime, firearm related or not.

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Having a friend attempt suicide by jumping (and survive after since emergency services got there in time) in the last month I read a book on tips to help the suicidal.

It was stressed again and again to remove access from firearms from them. A gun at home is far, far easier a means to a death known to be guaranteed and painless than the stereotypical means of suicide like jumping from a public structure or overdose---and to the temporarily distorted mind to which suicide is the wrong choice, this ease of execution of a suicide method that is so final and painless is material.

For how unlucky my suffering friend is, at least they did not have access to a gun.

Yikes. Suicide by gun isn't guaranteed, at all. You would think it would be, but that's not the case. Last second flinch and now you're a stoic veggie from here on out.

Suicide bags. Those are the way to go for a painless death with better odds of success.

> Obviously if guns are truly banned, there will be no gun crime. There will still however be knife crime, fist crime, car crime, etc.

The gun is greatest weapon of destruction a regular citizen can have, is allowed to carry and buy. Knifes needs physical proximity to use.

I strongly disagree.

A firearm is the most effective defensive weapon a person can have, surely - but not even close to the most destructive.

If someone’s goal is indiscriminate destruction, an automobile is much more effective. Explosive, incendiaries, or even poisons would be all cause more destruction than a firearm.

Handguns in particular are relatively ineffective as weapons go. A knife attack is more likely to result in the death of the victim than a handgun. The reason handguns are carried more than knives for defense is that knives typically kill through blood loss while firearms do so through immediate physical trauma.

> There will still however be knife crime, fist crime, car crime, etc

I, for one, would much rather worry about the pugilist in the bell tower or the inevitable school drive-throughs and all their copycats.

No way. I saw the Nice truck photos, and that is much worse.

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