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Abstract
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Most firearm-related deaths are deaths by suicide, and approximately half of all suicide deaths involve a firearm.1 Recent research has identified a sustained risk of suicide by firearm for those who own handguns and has suggested that risk for suicide peaks just after an individual's first handgun purchase.2 During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the United States has seen record-breaking gun sales, and many purchasers are first-time owners, which may mean that a large section of the population is at newly elevated risk for suicide.3 Although policymakers tend to focus on certain laws to reduce gun violence, these laws are not sufficient to fully address suicide risk when an individual's risk is not apparent.
In this issue of AJPH, Anestis et al. (p. 309) describe the potential of preventive individual-level interventions--lethal means counseling and safe storage education--to spur members of the Mississippi National Guard to safely store firearms and reduce suicide risk. Using these findings, I explain the problems with relying solely on law to prevent suicide and outline the need for a comprehensive approach to firearm suicide prevention that incorporates evidence-based practices and leverages existing policy mechanisms...
...Many gun laws popular among advocates have shown the capability to reduce firearm suicide but have inherent limitations. These laws focus on firearm access; because firearms are so lethal, individuals in the midst of a crisis with access to a firearm are at high risk for fatal harm.1 Laws like purchaser licensing and Extreme Risk Protection Orders can reduce firearm suicide but rely on identifying and acting on risk.4,5 Purchaser licensing laws keep those with a statutory prohibiting condition from acquiring firearms. Extreme Risk Protection Order laws are intended to remove firearms from the home of someone at high risk for harming himself or herself or others. Because suicide is often an impulsive act taken in response to acute stressors, it is not always possible to preemptively identify and act on risk of suicide.1 A person experiencing a transient crisis may not satisfy any statutory or other legal criteria prohibiting gun acquisition. For individuals in this scenario, the lethality of immediately available means of harm is quite important...
Language: en |