[tossacct]

I can't read the study, but lots of cultures in the US attach stigma to suicide(weakness) and to gun accidents(stupidity). Families in these cultures sometimes feel that they share the blame for not properly securing the firearm or not effectively mitigating the suicidal ideations of a depressed family member.

Consider a family with a youth who accidentally shot themselves. Rather than state that it was an accident, the family tells authorities that it was a "suicide".

Consider a family with an adult that chooses to commit suicide. Rather than state that it was a suicide, the family tells the authorities that it was an "accident".

[csense]

Suicides misreported as accidents; accidents misreported as suicides. If both happen equally often, they'll cancel each other out.

Is there a good reason to believe that one of these effects is stronger than the other?

[tossacct]

>>>Is there a good reason to believe that one of these effects is stronger than the other?

That's a great statistical question! If the data skew was proportionally equal in both directions, the two skews would cancel each other out, right?

Unfortunately, we don't know if the data skews towards accidents, or skews towards suicides, or skews towards them both equally. Here is the snarky one-liner answer to your question:

>>>Is there a good reason to believe that one of these effects is not stronger than the other?