The Plural of Anecdote, Mindy McCready Edition

I don’t generally follow either country music or celebrity addiction porn, so the only reason I recognized the name Mindy McCready when stories of her suicide hit the news this week was her tangential involvement in Roger Clemens’ life, which came to light during his trial(s) for allegedly lying to Congress about performance enhancing drugs (which, in turn, I heard about because I'm a sports fan).

McCready was found dead Sunday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, on the same spot at her home on which her former boyfriend, David Wilson – the father of one of her children – was found about a month ago, also dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound (apparently… the local sheriff’s department has opened an investigation into his death).

Would Wilson and McCready still be alive if there hadn’t been at least one gun in that household? Maybe not: McCready’s life had been bedeviled by abuse, addiction, and legal problems, and there are obviously other ways – some of which McCready herself had previously tried – to commit suicide… though there is a state-by-state correlation between rates of gun ownership and suicide death rates.

One thing, though, we can conclude reasonably certainly: If McCready had not had a gun, Wilson’s dog would still be alive.