Access to firearms is a key component of suicide rates. According to Maldonado, The strongest single factor predictive of suicide is a prior history of attempted suicide, and the strongest predictor of how likely a person is to die from suicide is access to a gun. It is the combination of lethality and accessibility that makes firearms the most common mode of suicide in the US.
The presence of a gun in the home increases the likelihood of suicide, regardless of the method of storage, type of gun, or the number of guns in the home, explained Maldonado. According to the data, if a gun is not available in the home, a gun is rarely used as the method of suicide.
Maldonado added that firearm suicide rate in states that do not require a waiting period for gun sales has been twice as high as the rate in states that do require a waiting period. Furthermore, while some suicide attempts are carefully planned, most are impulsive. Some studies of survivors of suicide have revealed that as many as two-thirds of the attempters did not plan their attempt, with about a quarter attempting suicide within 5 minutes of having suicidal thoughts, about half within 20 minutes, and nearly three-quarters within an hour of suicidal ideation.
Immediate stressors often trigger suicidal crises, with most survivors reported having made their attempt within 24 hours of a crisis. However, the urge to act is short-lived, typically lasting a few minutes to a few hours.
Maldonado said, Intervention during the time of acute risk is key to saving lives. Most people who attempt suicide dont really want to die, they are just so overwhelmed by their emotions that they feel unable to cope. A systematic review of 70 studies following patients after a non-fatal attempt found that on average only 7% eventually died by suicide, whereas 70% did not reattempt.