Not all states have a suicide prevention plan. To see a list of state plans as well as contact info for your state suicide prevention liaison, visit www.sprc.org
State Means Restriction Programs
Between May 2006 and March 2007, the Harvard Injury Control Research Center conducted 1) telephone interviews with a leader of the group or agency responsible for statewide suicide prevention policy in each of the 50 states (identified via the Suicide Prevention Resource Center State Contact List), and 2) content analysis of written statewide suicide prevention plans. Most state groups had published a statewide suicide prevention plan (88%) or were in the process of doing so (8%). Among the written plans, 84% called for reducing access to lethal means. However, only nine state groups (IN, ME, MT, NH, NM, NY, OR, TX, WY) had implemented activities aimed at reducing suicidal people’s access to firearms.
*N=45: five states (AR, IL, MS, NV, NJ) were not able to provide a state plan at the time of the interview. Of the rest, seven state plans (HI, ID, KS, CA, NE, OH, VT) did not call for reducing access to lethal means. If you would like to work with your state leaders to incorporate this message into your state plan, see the links or the recommendations for communities section for some sample language.
Click here to read the full report (8 pages).
- Click here to download a summary of state laws regarding purchasing firearms and mental illness, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and the presence or absence of a mental health database. [Source: Norris DM, Price M, Gutheil T, Reid WH. Firearm laws, patients, and the role of psychiatrists. Am J Psychiatry. 2006 Aug;163(8):1392-6.]
