20,000 Americans who Commit Suicide Would be Alive without Easy Access to a Gun
Reminder: National Suicide Prevention Week is Sept. 5 - 11th
Guns Offer No Second Chance, Greatly Increase Suicide Fatality Rate
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fifty–eight people die from suicide by gun every day—two-thirds of all daily gun deaths in the U.S. The fact is that guns make suicide attempts far more lethal than any other means. If the 21,334 people who died by suicide in 2014 hadn't had access to a firearm and had attempted suicide with another method, an estimated 20,000 people would have survived their attempts, according to The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence.
As National Suicide Prevention Week commences, it is important to remember the role easy access to firearms plays in suicides.
"Nine out of ten people who survive a suicide attempt do not go on to die by suicide; when a gun is present, there is no second chance," said Josh Horwitz, executive director of The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. "Effectively reducing suicides means committing to keeping guns out of the hands of those who are a danger to themselves and helping them get the care they need."
"Suicide is often dismissed when we discuss the horrors of gun violence in America. Our nation's loose gun laws make it far too easy for someone in a state of crisis to harm themselves," added Horwitz. "Thousands of people would be alive today had they not had easy access to a gun while in crisis. The notion that guns everywhere make us safer is simply not true," added Horwitz.
Simple policies offer law enforcement and family members the opportunity to save a loved one's life. In Connecticut and Indiana law enforcement can ask a court to temporarily remove a gun from someone facing crisis; California, in addition to law enforcement, also allows family members to directly petition a court.
The policy is on the ballot in the state of Washington in the November election. In Washington, this policy is known as an Extreme Risk Protection Order.
The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence works with the Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy to develop and enact evidence-based policies to decrease the rate of gun suicides and homicides.
The Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy, a group of the nation's leading researchers and practitioners that synthesizes and translates the best available scientific evidence to develop gun violence prevention policy recommendations,
Resources:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Dr. Jeffrey Swanson, Duke University School of Medicine, short video titled, "Risk-based gun removal laws: Can they prevent suicide?" see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPBvZJRHk1A
Washington ballot Initiative 1491, called Extreme Risk Protection Orders:
Alliance for Gun Responsibility: http://gunresponsibility.org/solution/extreme-risk-protection-orders/
Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy. (2013). Guns, Public Health, and Mental Illness: An Evidence-Based Approach for Federal Policy. http://efsgv.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Final-Federal-Report.pdf.
Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy. (2013). Guns, Public Health, and Mental Illness: An Evidence-Based Approach for State Policy. http://efsgv.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Final-State-Report.pdf.
Members of the Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy available to speak:
Dr. Shannon Frattaroli, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Josh Horwitz, J.D., Executive Director, The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence
Dr. Beth McGinty, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dr. Matt Miller, Co-Director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health
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SOURCE Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
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