According to the available statistics, over 47,000 Americans died by suicide in 2017, and more than one-half of those deaths were the result of using a firearm. A new study out of Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center shows that increased suicide rates in urban areas over the past 10 years illustrate a “statistically significant link” with an increase in the prevalence of gun stores.
“In more urban areas, not as many homes tend to have firearms, so shops themselves could potentially increase access to some of those residents who are vulnerable to suicide,” said Danielle Steelesmith, the lead author of the study and a postdoctoral psychiatry and behavioral health fellow at Wexner.
Researchers said that the link wasn’t as pronounced in rural areas. But those areas already had higher rates of guns in the home, so “accessibility” was not greatly impacted by gun stores. However, those areas, the ones with most of the guns, already have higher suicide rates. As Trace points out, the link between rising suicide rates in states with rising firearm use has already been established in studies. People who die by suicide with a gun usually know how to use the gun.
Israel, a country that conscripts its youth into military service as a requirement of citizenship, used to allow 18- to 21-year-olds to bring home their service firearms on weekend leaves. The country decided to end the practice in 2010, requiring those young soldiers to leave their service weapons on base. This resulted in 40% fewer deaths by suicide in Israel’s armed services.
Creating gun control or gun safety legislation is about creating space and time for hope. There are all kinds of things that need to be done in our society to end the alienation and despair that ends in death. These things include access to good mental health services and fighting against widening economic inequality. But they also include making sure that when people are at their most distressed, they get time and a chance to find hope—something that disappears the instant a trigger is pulled.