If it's counted as an accident rather than a suicide then the numbers are still high.

If it's counted as a suicide rather than an accident then maybe. I would then ask who is lying.

If it's faking deaths then that's the coroner system which you would have to question.

Or we have gotten better about recording suicide today and they were under-reported years ago.

Do you mean in regards to under-reporting to save face?

"Died cleaning his gun" etc, yeah.

You absolutely see this in insular communities - lots of attempts to hide abuses or family politics that led to a suicide, by hiding it behind accidental death of some kind.

Yes. Also if you put yourself in the shoes of a coroner/investigator, how do you determine if it's a suicide vs an accident? And would you get the context you need from the family/friends/colleagues of the deceased, keeping in mind they might not tell you, or lie because they don't want their loved one to be remembered as someone who lost their battle with mental illness?

It's kind of undeniable that there's a rising mental illness crisis in the US and undoubtedly more suicides, but keep in mind that suicide, like all symptoms of mental illness, is hard to track accurately. Especially as the stigma towards mental illness is starting to cede.