So, there's a lot of hand wringing and PSH over the fact that over half of gun deaths are suicides. This is news? If I remember correctly, a well known blogger brought this up a long time ago. Glad to see I'm well ahead of the media in this regard.
Funny though that the media wants to put the blame at the tool.
No doubt about it, a firearm is a very, very effective tool to use for suicide. Nail clippers are very effective for trimming toenails, but you don't blame the nail clippers for increased nail growth now do you?
When someone wants to kill themselves, they will do it regardless of the effectiveness of the tools available. Japan, a country with practically no hand guns, had more suicides than we had homicides by firearm total. Remember, a homicide doesn't mean murder (the arthritic, old lady in a wheelchair who revokes the birth certificates of three goblins intent on robbing her of her pain medicine adds three to the total count).
Having a gun may provide a more effective way of committing suicide but it doesn't cause you to kill yourself. It is possible that, having an effective tool available may ease the decision to end one's life as very few people wish to die painfully, but that choice was made without the help of a heap of plastic, metal, and wood.