Liberty is an inherently offensive lifestyle. Living in a free society guarantees that each one of us will see our most cherished principles and beliefs questioned and in some cases mocked. That psychic discomfort is the price we pay for basic civic peace. It's worth it. It's a pragmatic principle. Defend everyone else's rights, because if you don't there is no one to defend yours. -- MaxedOutMama

I don't just want gun rights... I want individual liberty, a culture of self-reliance....I want the whole bloody thing. -- Kim du Toit

The most glaring example of the cognitive dissonance on the left is the concept that human beings are inherently good, yet at the same time cannot be trusted with any kind of weapon, unless the magic fairy dust of government authority gets sprinkled upon them.-- Moshe Ben-David

The cult of the left believes that it is engaged in a great apocalyptic battle with corporations and industrialists for the ownership of the unthinking masses. Its acolytes see themselves as the individuals who have been "liberated" to think for themselves. They make choices. You however are just a member of the unthinking masses. You are not really a person, but only respond to the agendas of your corporate overlords. If you eat too much, it's because corporations make you eat. If you kill, it's because corporations encourage you to buy guns. You are not an individual. You are a social problem. -- Sultan Knish

All politics in this country now is just dress rehearsal for civil war. -- Billy Beck

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Guns Don't Cause Suicide, the Internet Does

Or hibachi grills & charcoal. Or booze and sleeping pills. Or vans and plastic sheeting.

Roto-Reuters reports that seven people in Japan who met over the internet have been found dead of apparent suicide:

Seven Die in Japan 'Internet Suicide' Pact
Tue Oct 12, 2004 09:26 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese police said on Tuesday they were investigating a suspected group suicide involving seven people who met through the Internet,
the latest in a rash of suicides linked to the Web.

The four men and three women, mostly in their 20s, were found dead on Tuesday in a car parked on a mountain road in Minano in Saitama prefecture near Tokyo, officers said.

Police said they found four charcoal stoves in the car, which was wrapped in blue plastic sheets and had its windows sealed from the inside.

"We believe they all died after inhaling carbon monoxide from the charcoal," a police spokesman said. "We believe they got acquainted through the Internet."

One of the seven had sent an e-mail to a friend on Monday saying he would commit suicide, the spokesman said.

"We found no traces of violence that could have otherwise led to their deaths," he said.

Empty cans of liquor were found inside the car and a box of sleeping pills near the silver vehicle, Kyodo news agency said.

No religious prohibitions exist in Japan against suicide and it has long been seen as a way to escape failure or of saving loved ones from embarrassment for financial loss. However, it has also been stigmatized as a shameful, taboo subject.

In Kanagawa prefecture, just west of Tokyo, police said two women in their 20s had killed themselves in a car in what was believed to be another case of Internet suicide.
Cases dubbed by the Japanese media as "Internet suicide" pacts started to come to the fore in 2003. A total of 34 people killed themselves in such pacts last year, according to police data.

Police have asked Internet service providers to disclose information about those who post plans about suicides on the Web.

However, experts say it is pointless to blame the Internet and that a closer look should be taken at the society in which they occur.

Suicide rates have always been high in Japan, where there are about the same number each year as in the United States, which has more than double the population.

Last year, Japan reported a record 34,427 recorded cases of suicide. (Additional reporting by George Nishiyama)

Imagine that! They managed to have 34,427 suicides and gun ownership there is 0.01% (or less) of what it is here. Moreover, I believe that Japan counts as suicides, murder-suicides where a family member kills his entire family and then himself. This isn't all that rare there, and it tends to skew Japan's homicide statistics, too.

All black sarcasm aside, if you want to die, you'll find a way. And if you put a gun to your head and pull the trigger, you want to die.

But according to "health professionals," guns cause suicide.

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