Permitless Pistols?

 From a Washington Post story about the cost of gun violence:

Gun deaths increased by 0.72 percent every year, rising from 47 percent to nearly 51 percent, researchers found

The researchers found stark regional differences in the trends, and point out that the South — the region with the highest number of registered firearms — has a higher level of gun-related suicide and homicide than the rest of the nation.

Second Amendment advocates argue that the right to bear arms can prevent deaths, but the researchers write, “the data reveal that the resulting access to firearms has equated to magnitudes of death due to firearm suicides in the same individuals demanding access to firearms.” They call for more tailored suicide prevention programs aimed at those at highest risk, and the restriction of access to “all methods of suicide.”