Would be more accurate predictors but I doubt anyone would suggest those questions be asked.

Biases make for poor science.

Did you enjoy your break from DU?

But for the record -- life goes on and life is good. There is no "break;" merely another day.

gun risks in a home. I even contributed -- what I believe, at any rate -- to be a legitimate addition to that conversation, i.e. that within the set of "gun owning households" the sub-sets of "alcohol use" and "prior criminal history" provide a substantially clearer indication of risk.

One would think this provides an opportunity for substantive discussion but perhaps discussion isn't the actual desire.

Or is spamming the limit of your "contribution"?

another croc Google dump and he, she or it is afraid to comment on the article.

nothing about the post, almost comical.

.

You represent your group very well.

Stay classy, all of you.

The article is talking about the risk of suicide, in elderly people who tend towards dementia progressing over time.

Suicide by alcohol is highly unlikely, although in combo with a prescription drug it is possible. However, in my experience, when a doctor prescribes a drug that interacts with alcohol, they warn the patient. Most drugs that would be used in combo with alcohol to commit suicide, also would be effective for that purpose without alcohol, in a large enough dosage. Heck, isn't it true that enough aspirin or tylenol can kill someone too? So regarding suicide, absent the disease of alcoholism, I'm not sure of the relevance of alcohol in the home.

If a patient is an alcoholic, that's a whole new level of risk - and extremely relevant to medical care - but their primary care physician is probably aware of the fact; in any case they certainly should be. In fact a question asked during every annual physical I've had for years is whether or not I drink and how much. The presence of alcohol in my home is irrelevant to my health if I don't drink and only keep it for guests. On the other hand, if I frequently have grandkids over without supervision of other adults, it might be relevant to their pediatrician if I am absent-minded and don't keep the booze in a childproof cabinet out of the kids reach.

I think the article is also considering to the risk of children left in the care of elderly grandparents or great-grandparents who have guns but might not be taking appropriate steps to prevent injury to the children. (I don't know for sure since I don't feel like creating a Medscape account.) To the extent that pediatricians normally counsel parents about ways to child-proof their home or assess the safety of day-care options, I would expect that guns would be part of that discussion. (Unless some law is telling the doc they can't ask the question. Is that what this is all about?)

As to criminal history, outside of sexual predators I don't know why that would be relevant, but there is already a "list" for that.

clinically diagnosed as an alcoholic.

As a sporadic drinker myself (3 drinks total one week, 3 drinks total one year), I can't imagine choosing alcohol to commit suicide. That would be a horrible, horrible way to go, and as far as I know, not even likely to be effective. A gun would be much quicker, simpler, and with a little forethought, less likely to be horribly painful. Hence, booze is safely parked on the top shelf of a cabinet, and I will not have a gun in my home. (But, since you don't know who you're talking to, I'm one of those moderate pro-gun ownership folks who just doesn't want to keep one in my own house but don't give a shit if you keep a dozen or more in your house, as long as a young child never gets a hold of one and shoots himself / herself, or someone else.)

Let's collectively decide that NOBODY gets to put an end to their life if they so choose....especially if we can stick our own noses in their private and personal business, call them old and senseless, and act like they are objects to be dealt with.

I'm old. If I want to kill myself, that is my own friggin' decision. LEAVE MY BODY ALONE. LEAVE MY PERSONAL CHOICES ALONE. Abortion isn't murder. Suicide isn't murder. A person's body is their own decision. As long as they aren't taking someone else's personal decisions away, it's not hurting anyone else.

Authoritarianism is SO fashionable right now. Screw it.

You can always tell when another pump-up of the "public health" frame is coming on by the number of editorial writers suddenly talking about public health as if it were unchartered territory.

No one likes to talk about it much, but maybe elderly people, esp. those with debilitating diseases, have a gun so that they may decide when they want to end their lives, and not leave the decision to some predatory hyenna circling for the kill. If a person loses the capacity to control their lives, then due process can play a role in meting out those responsibilities to others. Unfortunate as it may seem, an otherwise in-control but ill and depressed individual is probably within his/her rights to keep a gun. Or a full-house load of prescription narcotics.

I renew this proposal: A big mass-media and on-line campaign to get folks to lock up weapons when not in use; Super Bowl, Final Four, Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow, NYT, etc. A limited camp. has been going on for years in many shooting sports publications, sites & shows, and may account for the already very low rates of childhood accidental deaths via guns.

that there is an epidemic of gun mayhem.

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/05/07/gun-homicide-rate-down-49-since-1993-peak-public-unaware/