No. of Recommendations: 10
Still I would include suicidal among the crazies.
I don't think that's an accurate assessment. Sure, there are undoubtedly some people who commit suicide that are afflicted with one or more serious mental illnesses. Serious enough that we would consider them "crazy."
But most people who commit suicide aren't necessarily like that. They might have depression or anxiety or what have you - but that doesn't make you a "crazy" person. What a lot of those people experience are moments of suicidal ideation, where they contemplate killing themselves. These moments are most often temporary, which is why nearly all people who survive a suicide attempt never end up committing suicide. They're not "crazies," just people who have a momentary mental decompensation. We know that because nearly all the people who attempt suicide who fail will go on to live out the rest of their lives. And most people who attempt suicide fail.
That's the vector by which firearms dramatically increase the rate of death by suicide attempt - they nearly eliminate the failure rate. It's actually a bit of a job to inflict lethal damage to a human body, and very hard to do it in a way that results in instantaneous death (or loss of consciousness). If you're not using a firearm, there's a really good chance that either your attempt will fail or that there will be several minutes after you begin your attempt that you can either interrupt it or call for help. But not if you use a firearm. A firearm is very efficient. It can inflict a lethal wound reliably, and in many cases instantly.
It's probably not possible to materially reduce gun deaths by trying to ex ante keep guns out of the hands of "criminals" and "crazies," because most gun deaths aren't caused by people who were ex ante criminals or crazies. Most of the suicides are otherwise sane people who have momentary suicidal ideation. Many of the homicides aren't by people who were previously criminals, but conflicts between ordinary people. Conflicts that might have ended in a shouting match - or if they escalated to physical violence (we'll never have a world without bar fights or spousal abuse), the violence would have at least a high chance of being non-lethal - but instead end in a homicide.
It's just not a successful strategy. If guns are plentiful and often at hand, they'll be available to people in their worst moments - their darkest depression or hottest anger - making it far less likely that they can come back from those moments.
