Calling All Gun Owners – Did you know?

Did you know that when you store firearms in your home, your risk as well as others in the home are increased to die by suicide (1)? Most gun owners cite protection as the primary reason for owning guns (2). We need to also protect our homes against suicide risk. Here are five practical evidenced informed strategies that we can all promote to help save lives from the cunning problem of suicide.

We need to partner with the firearm industry. We need gun owners to prevent suicide. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, there have been more first-time gun owners than ever before. Overall gun sales nationwide are unprecedented (3). What we need to do communicate effectively about the often-unknown risk of suicide at the point of sale and following purchase.

·         Nearly 70% of all Veterans who died by suicide in 2019 were by firearm (4).

·         More Women Veterans die by firearm suicide than non-Veteran women (4).

·         Most firearm deaths in the United States are suicides (5).

·         People who purchased firearms during COVID-19 more frequently reported suicidal ideation over the past month, year, and lifetime than non-firearm owners and firearm owners who did not purchase during COVID-19 as of March 2021 (6).

Storing firearms securely matters. Securely storing has a specific definition: storing firearms unloaded with at least one locking mechanism on the firearm while storing ammunition separately and locked (7). The market for firearm storage options has also expanded and there are inexpensive options such as cable locks or options for installing home safes, vaults, and even biometric and remote options for securing firearms electronically.

Guns, alcohol, and other substances should not mix. Just like drinking and driving should not mix, firearms and alcohol should not mix either. Gun owners can help encourage the important separation between substance use and firearms and encourage anyone struggling with substance use to seek help. Suicidal crisis often involves substance use. Treatment can work, 12-step programs can work. Sobriety is cool. Recovery is possible.

Timing matters. When someone is in a crisis and having thoughts of suicide, the faster they can access a loaded firearm or other lethal means, the worse the outcome(8). By increasing the time and space between someone in a crisis and a loaded firearm, we can all save lives.

·         Placing the “Dial 988 and Press 1 for Veterans” national three-digit crisis line visibly on the gun safe or even via a sticker on the gun can also provide a visual reminder if someone is in crisis when they are going to access their gun.

·         Having pictures of loved ones near or on the safe.

·         Creating a Suicide Prevention Safety Plan or Home Safety Plan and placing the plan near where firearms are stored can serve as a helpful reminder that no matter the crisis, or intensity of self-harmful thoughts, there is a plan for living and staying safe.

Out of home storage options can save lives. Communities who support options for voluntary, temporary, secure out of home firearm storage provide key resources to gun owners. Nationally there are more than 130,000 Federal Firearm Licensees, look up those in your State and discuss options for providing storage out of the home. This step can decrease suicide risk.

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References:

1.       Miller, Matthew MD, ScD; Lippmann, Steven J. BS; Azrael, Deborah PhD; Hemenway, David PhD. Household Firearm Ownership and Rates of Suicide Across the 50 United States. The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care: April 2007 - Volume 62 - Issue 4 - p 1029-1035

doi: 10.1097/01.ta.0000198214.24056.40.

2.       Parker, K, Horowitz, J.M., Igielnik, R., et al. America’s Complex Relationship With Guns. 2017. The demographics of gun ownership in the U.S. | Pew Research Center.

3.       Walsh, Josh. U.S. Bought Almost 20 Million Guns Last Year — Second-Highest Year On Record (forbes.com) April 2022. Forbes.com.

4.       U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 2021 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report (va.gov). VHA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. September 2021.

5.       U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fast Facts: Firearm Violence Prevention |Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC.

6.       Anestis, M.D., Bond, A.E., Daruwala, S.E., Bandel, S.L., Bryan, C.J. Suicidal Ideation Among Individuals Who Have Purchased Firearms During COVID-19. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Vol 60, Issue 3. Match 2021.

7.       Ramchand, R. Personal Firearm Storage in the United States: Recent Estimates, Patterns, and Effectiveness of Interventions, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, RR-A243-5, 2022. As of July 11, 2022: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA243-5.html.

8.       Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Means Matter | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

9.       U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Suicide Prevention is Everyone’s Business: A Toolkit for Safe Firearm Storage in Your Community. VHA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention 2019.

10.   U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms (ATF).