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Comment by elzbardico | Hacker News Reader

In my life I met two people who survived botched suicide attempts without using firearms. When someone decides to do it, they will try, and there are things worse than dying.

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> When someone decides to do it, they will try, and there are things worse than dying.

Science disagrees. Many attempts are impulsive and a minor hurdle can be enough to stop them.

To have been stopped by a minor hurdle one must necessarily have started. It seems like you mean to disagree with the idea that "there are things worse than dying" and I expect they meant being maimed can be thought of as worse than being successful, due to the long-term personal consequences.

This argument makes sense semantically, but not in practice. Consider these two people

"I should kill myself" grabs gun and fires

"I should kill myself. I'll go buy some poison pills tomorrow." feels better the next day and never actually does

I cannot believe you actually wrote that. With your comment it seems like you're saying that it's pointless to hide the guns ie not keep them close. But then you also said that those two people survived. Have you heard the saying: Opportunity makes a thief. It's similar here. Except that it's not a theft, it's a suicide. I wouldn't dare to write what you wrote, knowing that someone might read it and take the cue to _not_ do any precautions before their trip.

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