Originally Posted by
PhaelixWW
Gee, I dunno. Maybe the fact that 99.5% of that "societal" cost is really just lifetime work loss, which is nebulous, at best, and doesn't really translate to actual loss of government funds. Feel free to try and make the argument that lost taxes on that work loss would offset spending on medical support for a suicidal person.
Direct medical costs were under $4000 per suicide.
In fact, and not to get too morbid about it, the costs per firearm suicide were actually less than other types of suicides. Other suicides cost about 15-20% more than firearm suicides.
Counter that with 21 million NICS checks per year. How much do 21 million mental checks cost?
The fact that you take it for granted that "oh, societal costs would offset government costs" is fairly ridiculous.