CDC: 55 percent of gun deaths are suicides

According to research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicides accounted for 55 percent of U.S. gun deaths in 2005.  In fact, gun-related suicides have outnumbered homicides and accidental deaths involving guns in 20 of the past 25 years (Source: “Suicides make up 55 percent of gun deaths,” Columbus Dispatch, July 1, 2008).

In 2005, homicides accounted for 40 percent of the nearly 31,000 gun deaths and accidents accounted for 3 percent. The remaining 2 percent included legal killings, such as when police do the shooting, and cases that involved undetermined intent.

In a brief filed with the Supreme Court as it considered the handgun ban in Washington D.C. (the court ruled last week that the ban was unconsitutional), the American Public Health Association, the American Association of Suicidology and two other groups said that more than 90 percent of suicide attempts using guns are successful, compared to a 34-percent rate for jumping from a high place and a 2-percent rate for intentional drug overdoes.