ATLANTA – The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens’ ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves.

Suicides accounted for 55 percent of the nation’s nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention….

And, no, it’s not true that people who would commit suicide would simply find some other way to do it if no gun is available.

… More than 90 percent of suicide attempts using guns are successful, while the success rate for jumping from high places was 34 percent. The success rate for drug overdose was 2 percent, the brief said, citing studies.

“Other methods are not as lethal,” said Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore.

Gun control opponents argue that other countries have higher suicide rates with less availability of guns. True. But we’re not talking about other countries. The data does not back up the contention that U.S.  gun suicides would always find some way to kill themselves. That’s conjecture.

The right to bear arms isn’t the only policy issue here. The right to health and safety is even more important. Suicide, homicide and gun violence are serious health and safety issues. But look what’s happened to thwart honest policy analysis. The gun lobby in Congress (and in the hallways of Congress) has blocked data collection about gun violence. Same story: