Here is a study of gun deaths in my state, and here
is a breakdown of the reasons. Click to enlarge. Note that here in Colorado the number of gun deaths ascribed to suicide seems to be about 75%, which is somewhat above the national average.
Recently our legislature has proposed to set up state-sanctioned "shooting galleries" (pardon the pun) where druggies of every type could go to use any drug they wished with state agents standing by to give first aid in case they look like they may have overdosed. This got voted down when it was suggested that the first such park be located across the street from the capitol building. My variation on this sort of overlaps the physician-assisted suicide idea in that id eliminates the physician who, after all, is supposed to be primarily interested in keeping you alive.
If you're feeling despondent, simply drop by one of these new offices, and pick up a single-use Fentanyl kit which consists of a sterile syringe with a lethal dose of Fentanyl in it. Cost to the state should be near zero as the municipal police evidence lockers likely contain enough to go around. Take this anywhere you like, and shoot the whole thing. Voila! You're dead, and the death is not attributable to firearms. Instantly, the gun death rate is reduced by 75%.
Of course there will be abuses. People will pick up their free kit and only use half of it. The junkies will still be there, but the drug dealers will be severely impacted by the low-cost competition, driving some percentage of them out of business, plus it seems reasonable to expect that some percentage of the free dope users will eventually OD anyway. This should reduce the overall homicide rate as well without as many dealers competing for the best sales locations.
Is this a win-win or what?
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