A psychiatrist named Brian Barnett has published a piece titled National support for ‘red-flag’ gun laws could prevent many suicides in which he advocates for red-flag laws to add mental health providers to the list of those authorized to petition a court for removing guns from individuals in those states which have such laws. His concern is for the well being of those individuals, and the removal of guns would eliminate the easiest means of suicide for those people. It makes sense up to a point.
A firearm suicide leaves a mess. Anyone contemplating it should consider what the person who stumbles onto the scene will have to see. It would probably be very traumatic for whomever that person is and probably more traumatic if that person happened to be a family member.
But lack of access to firearms wouldn't necessarily prevent a suicide -- there are other ways to terminate one's life. According to CDC.gov only half of the 47,173 suicides in 2017 involved firearms.
My objective with this post isn't to prevent suicides, although that would be a nice result. There are plenty of better places to seek help, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention would be a good place to start. (The chart on the right came from there.)
And here's an interesting finding among the Research & Suicide Prevention: Top 10 Findings: "Ninety percent of people who die by suicide have an underlying — and potentially treatable — mental health condition." Help is out there.
Most of us, while not being suicidal or having a mental health condition, can contemplate a situation which might inspire suicide. And if suicide really is the only resort, please don't use a gun.
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10:41 AM 9/25/2019
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