See all the latest videos and articles patriots need to watch and read at Discern.tv.
Editor’s note: This press release regarding a a study into gun purchase delays is a in favor of them. We are not. This story affirms our contention that the leftist narrative about gun crime is false. The facts from this article also indicate that suicides are reduced by gun purchase delays, which we do not dispute. We are publishing it not because of their conclusions but because the facts are pertinent in combating the false progressive narrative that punishing law-abiding citizens will reduce crime. It will not, as this study demonstrates.
If the left wants to focus their gun control rhetoric on suicides, they have a truthful argument. They do not focus on suicide because stopping hundreds from killing themselves does not justify preventing millions from defending themselves. Gun crime perpetrated by others is best reduced by empowering people to protect themselves by exercising their 2nd Amendment rights. The left needs to stop making the rest of us less safe by making laws that restrict law-abiding citizens while empowering criminals.
MUNCIE, Indiana – Delaying handgun purchases through federal- and state-mandates reduces firearm-related suicides by about 3 percent, says a Ball State University researcher.
Erik Nesson, an economics professor in the Miller College of Business at Ball State and a member of multi-university research team analyzing gun waiting regulations, believes the result of mandatory purchase delays is both statistically and substantively significant. If all states without firearm purchase delays adopted them, it would prevent roughly 600 suicides each year.
The authors also find that preventing firearm-related suicides through purchase delays did not lead to an increase in suicides through other means. However, the authors did not find that purchase delays led to changes in homicides or mass shootings.
“Unlike homicides, the mechanism by which a delay may discourage suicides is more straight forward,” said Nesson, who noted that many suicidal thoughts are impulses that can be easily diverted and discouraged.
Suicides by jumping can be prevented with the installation of physical barriers preventing access and in some cases signs discouraging suicide, he said.
“Additionally, suicide prevention hotlines or contact with mental health providers have been associated with a decrease in suicides,” Nesson said.” It stands to reason that requiring a delay in handgun purchase prior to obtaining the firearm may act to divert and discourage potential suicide victims.”
Because suicides are so often impulsive, the authors found that purchase delays of less than a week are just as effective as longer delays in reducing suicides.
“Looking Down the Barrel of a Loaded Gun: The Effect of Mandatory Handgun Purchase Delays on Homicide and Suicide” was published in The Economic Journal in 2018 by Nesson and his colleagues from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama. The research team used a sophisticated statistical analysis to connect changes in states’ waiting period laws to changes in homicide and suicide rates over the period of 1990 to 2013.
Nesson noted that fewer states had wait periods in 2014 (11) than in 1990 (16).
“Firearms are a contentious and polarizing topic in American culture,” Nesson said. “What we show here is that any delay policy associated with the purchase of a handgun can help to mitigate some of the negative externalities of gun ownership, specifically suicide. Furthermore, our results suggest that there is little, if any, additional benefit of a lengthy wait period. Thus, the costs of purchase delays to responsible individuals could be minimized by not imposing excessively long delays.”
###
About Ball State
Founded in 1918 and located in Muncie, Ball State is one of Indiana’s premier universities and an economic driver for the state. Ball State’s nearly 22,000 students come from all over Indiana, the nation, and the world, and its 780-acre campus is large enough to accommodate premier facilities and 19 NCAA Division I sports but small enough to ensure the friendliness, personal attention, and access that are the hallmarks of the University.
We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.
[gravityform id=”2″ title=”true” description=”false”]
Covid variant BA.5 is spreading. It appears milder but much more contagious and evades natural immunity. Best to boost your immune system with new Z-Dtox and Z-Stack nutraceuticals from our dear friend, the late Dr. Vladimir Zelenko.