Suicide victims: The silent majority in the gun debate

Congress debates gun control legislation during Suicide Prevention Month, downplaying the way the two topics affect one another.

Five years ago, a well-respected and beloved colleague, Cheryl Hanna, shot herself two days after she was released from a psychiatric facility and one day after she purchased a handgun. At the time of her death, Vermont did not have a mandated waiting period for gun purchases. Her husband expressed shock that “somebody who had voluntarily admitted herself to the hospital for psychiatric treatment was so easily able to buy a gun.” She left behind two children and a Vermont community struggling to make sense of how a woman described as bright, poised, and confident could take her own life.

It is sadly appropriate that Congress is debating potential gun control legislation during Suicide Prevention Month. While mass shootings often spark the debates, the majority of gun deaths in the United States are suicides.

• Every year approximately 22,000 Americans commit suicide with a gun.
• In 2017, the most recent year for which the Center for Disease Control has complete data, suicides accounted for six-in-ten gun deaths.
• Forty percent of suicides by those 17 years or younger were with a gun.
• The Department of Defense issued a new study that found two-thirds of suicides among active-duty personnel were by firearms.

Despite the fact that suicide gun deaths outnumber all other gun deaths combined, it is rarely mentioned in the gun control debate—even when the debate turns to mental health as a catalyst for violence. Unlike the public nature of a mass shooting, a suicide is a singular act often hidden behind a veil of shame and denial. Suicide victims’ names and stories are not broadcast to the nation; the families’ pain is not woven into the discussion about the need for legislation.

But they should be.

Gun laws must be part of the suicide prevention discussion. They can and do save lives.

Waiting periods

Research shows that mandated waiting periods reduce incidences of gun violence, including suicide. This isn’t surprising, studies suggest that most suicide attempts are impulsive, singular episodes—contemplated for less than 24 hours. Yet, only six states impose a waiting period before an individual can purchase a firearm, while a handful of others require a waiting period for certain classes of weapons, such as automatic weapons. 

Permit to purchase laws (PTP) serve the same purpose. They delay the purchase of a gun until the purchaser has obtained a permit. Ten states have some form of PTP laws. Like with waiting periods, research links states with PTP laws with a 15 percent reduction in gun suicides.

If a small delay in a gun purchase can reduce gun suicides by even a fraction, why wouldn’t every state impose them? Although Hanna’s death raised awareness about the lack of a waiting period in Vermont, five years later the state still does not have one. Despite the fact that Vermont’s suicide rate is 35 percent higher than the national average, and guns are used in 59 percent of those deaths.

Red flag laws

Waiting periods can’t stop an individual who already has access to a gun; but so-called “red flag” laws can. Eighty percent of people considering suicide give some sign of their intentions. Seventeen states allow police or concerned family members to seek an extreme risk protection order (ERPO) that permits the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to themselves or others. Researchers have found that for every 10 to 20 gun removals, one life was saved through an averted suicide.

Support for red flag laws is increasing. More than 70 percent of Americans—across the political spectrum—support family-initiated ERPOs. President Trump and members of Congress support incentivizing states to pass these laws.

Waiting periods and red flag laws won’t stop all suicides, no law can; but if a waiting period or ERPO can avert even one death, isn’t it worth it? I know a family in Vermont that would answer “yes.” That family’s voice and the voices of all the families affected by gun suicides need to be heard in this debate.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jackie Gardina is the dean and chief academic officer of The Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law. Before attending law school and entering the practice of law, Dean Gardina obtained a Master’s in Social Work and worked as a clinical outpatient therapist with children and families.