Suicide Differences by Region Related to Gun Availability
获取枪支的难易程度会影响自杀率

The presence of a gun increases the likelihood that someone in the home will die a violent death, particularly by suicide
枪支的存在增加了人们在家中横死的可能性，特别是自杀。

撰文/播音 史蒂夫·米尔斯基 (Steve Mirsky)
翻译 Meatle
审校 乔虹

“One of the things we know for sure in the United States is that a gun in the home increases the likelihood that someone in the home will die a violent death—from gun accidents, from a woman being murdered by a man in an intimate partner violence situation and particularly by suicide.”
 “在美国，我们确信的一件事是，家中存有枪支会增加人们横死家中的可能性，死因可能是枪支意外、女性死于男性亲密伴侣暴力行为，还有自杀。”

David Hemenway. He’s the director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center. He’s also a professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. The gun violence discussion often seems to give short shrift to suicide, even though more than 60 percent of the approximately 32,000 annual U.S. firearms deaths are suicides. Hemenway spoke January 26th at a Harvard School of Public Health forum on gun violence as a public health issue.
 大卫·海明威 (David Hemenway) 说，他是哈佛大学伤害控制研究中心的主任，同时也是哈佛T.H.陈公共健康学院的健康政策与管理方面的教授。美国每年约3.2万起枪支致死事件中超过百分之六十是自杀，但尽管如此，枪支暴力方面的讨论似乎往往不包含自杀。海明威在1月26日的哈佛公共健康学院论坛上发表演讲，主题为枪支暴力关系到公共健康问题。

“The evidence is overwhelming, from case control studies and ecological studies. For example, why do we have very different suicide rates across cities, across states, across regions in the United States. To explain the differences in suicide rates across states, turns out it’s not well explained at all by differences in mental health, it’s not well explained at all by differences in the number of psychiatrists, it’s not even explained by differences in suicide ideation among the population or even suicide attempts. What really explains the difference in the United States across the populations is the number of guns. Because it’s gun suicide which is so different.”
 “这些来自案例分析与生态学研究的证据是非常有说服力的。例如，为什么在美国不同的城市、不同州、不同区域的自杀率差异很大？我们发现，无论是心理健康方面的差异，精神科医生数量方面的差异，还是群众中的自杀意志以及自杀倾向的差异，都无法很好的解释不同州自杀率的差异。能够真正解释这种自杀率差异的是枪支数量的差异，因为枪支自杀实在太特殊了。 ”

And someone who commits suicide with a gun very likely would not have either attempted or succeeded if the gun were not available. For example, a 2013 Swiss study tracked men after the size of the army was cut in half, effectively removing guns from half that group. The overall suicide rate went down, and the researchers estimated that only 22 percent of all the men who would have killed themselves with a gun if it had been available wound up committing the act by other means. The presence of the gun just makes it significantly easier to take your own life impulsively.
 对于那些打算通过枪支进行自杀的人，如果他们无法获取枪支，他们非常有可能放弃或自杀未遂。在2013年，瑞士裁军半数，行之有效的回收了被裁军人手上的武器。有个研究团队在裁军后跟踪了瑞士人的自杀情况，发现总体上自杀率下降了，同时，研究人员估计，在枪支可用时会使用枪支自杀的人之中，（译注：在无法获得枪支情况下）只有22%的人通过其他方式结束自己的生命。枪支的存在使他们更容易因一时冲动结束自己的生命。

 The entire hour-long forum featuring Hemenway and other researchers discussing gun violence as a public health issue is archived on line. Just google “Harvard public health forum”
海明威与其他研究人员的关于枪支暴力作为一项公共健康问题讨论的完整一小时录音可以在网上获取。谷歌搜索“哈佛公共健康论坛”（“Harvard public health forum”）即可。