Boyce 1

Spencer H Boyce
Crist
English 4
10/29/15
Research question: what are the reasons to tighten background checks on gun buyers?
Working thesis: will gun background checks help reduce suicide rates?
Thesis statement: Gun background checks help reduces suicide rates due to the fact that suicide
is often done with impulsive actions that cant happen if they are waiting on the weapon, and if
they are known to have mental illness then they cant purchase the weapon.
Annotated bibliography
"State Background Check Requirements and Suicide." EverytownResearch.org. 15 Jan. 2015.
Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System has proven effective at
stopping gun sales. Since its inception, more than 50,000 gun sales to severely mentally ill
people have been denied, particularly as states shore up their databases identifying prohibited,
severely mentally ill people. It is also possible that background check requirements are
associated with lower suicide rates due to an unobserved variable, such as the availability of
firearms. A study of handgun purchasers in California found that merely acquiring a firearm was
associated with a substantially elevated risk of suicide in the weeks following, lasting up to six
years. This gives me info I need on the stats on gun sales to mentally ill people

"Lower Suicide Rates Associated With Background Checks." Generation Progress. Web. 20 Oct.

Boyce 2

2015.
When you make a highly lethal method of suicide harder to access, youre going to lower
the suicide rate. We need to emphasize evidence-based gun safety among gun owners. In 2013
alone 212,175 people killed themselves with a firearm. That makes up 51 percent of all suicides
from that year. The Communications Director for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence was not
surprised by the results. The link between strong gun laws and less suicide makes sense, he said.
We know that suicide attempts with firearms are highly lethal. This article helps with showing
that many people have shown and believe that removal of guns will help slow down suicide.

"Magazine Features." Magazine Features. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

This impulsivity of gun related suicide was underscored in a 2001 study in Houston of
people ages 13 to 34 who had survived a near-lethal suicide attempt. A startling 24 percent said
only less than 5 minutes when they consider suicide but fail to do so, 48 percent said less than 20
minutes; 70 percent said less than one hour; and 86 percent said less than eight hours. Nine out
of 10 people who attempt suicide and survive do not go on to die by suicide later. This article
helps reveal the startling amount of suicidal people and how much time passes when suicidal
people decide to commit it before being stopped or not successful.

Work cited
"Magazine Features." Magazine Features. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

Boyce 3

"Lower Suicide Rates Associated With Background Checks." Generation Progress. Web. 20 Oct.
2015.
"State Background Check Requirements and Suicide." EverytownResearch.org. 15 Jan. 2015.
Web. 20 Oct. 2015.