In yet another blow to NRA talking points report shows that background checks for gun sales can dramatically reduce the number of suicides.

Courtesy of Mother Jones:  

US military brass have been spending a lot of time and money looking at how best to reduce the suicide rate among US troops, which has skyrocketed in recent years. They have concluded that it's false to assume that people intent on killing themselves will find a way to do it even if they can't get a gun. 

In a report to Congress in July, the Military Suicide Research Consortium noted that "Studies demonstrate that method substitution is rare." That's why simple things that can delay access to a gun, like mandatory background checks for all handgun purchases—including private sales—like those that would be required by a new bill recently passed by a Senate committee, can make a big difference in preventing suicide. States with such a requirement have a gun suicide rate 50 percent lower than states that don't, even when their non-gun suicide rates are about the same. 

One reason this holds true is that, research shows, suicide is often an impulsive act, and one that people haven't given much thought. That's especially true in gun suicides, where the majority of victims don't have a documented serious mental illness. If some in a crisis simply can't access a gun quickly, they may not try suicide at all, or they may try a less-lethal means that offers more chance that they'll be saved. And most people who survive a suicide attempt don't go on to take their own lives at a later time.

 In other words it is not preventing those with a previously diagnosed mental health condition from getting guns (The option promoted by the NRA) that prevents suicides, it is providing a waiting period for ALL gun buyers that gives the temporarily unbalanced the opportunity to rethink their decision and make a better choice.

No wonder they say that facts have a liberal bias.