Another flawed study

Just when you thought it was safe to walk through the front door...

Along comes the Harvard School of Public Health claiming that Household Firearms Increase Suicide Risk. Does this sound familiar? Like a retread of Kellerman? It's not that bad, but it still has a major flaw. This study found an increase in gun suicide rates in states with higher gun ownership rates. OK... Your first reaction might be "Duh... That's like saying that states with more cars have more traffic deaths." But it gets better. The study's lead author says...

“Removing all firearms from one’s home is one of the most effective and straightforward steps that household decision-makers can take to reduce the risk of suicide,” says [Matthew Miller, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at HSPH].

This statement ignores the positive effects of having firearms in one's home. These positive effects are documented month after month after month in the Armed Citizen column of your favorite NRA magazine. Firearms related suicides account for ~16,000 deaths in the US annually. However, Americans use firearms upwards of 2,000,000 times each year to prevent violent crimes; saving lives. Removing firearms, as Professor Miller suggests, might save 16,000 lives, but at the cost of how many thousands more?! Since one is not "less dead" when killed by a thug, I don't see how one could call this a fair trade-off.