Suicide prevention fight moving into gun country

A movement to reduce gun-related suicides by spreading prevention techniques among firearm owners and sellers is slowly making its way through states with high rates of gun ownership, according to a September 17, 2018 NBC News article.

The article highlighted efforts by gun dealers, firing range owners, and firearms instructors in states such as Utah, Colorado, and Tennessee to help prevent gun suicides by sharing suicide-prevention literature, emphasizing prevention techniques in concealed-carry classes, teaching workers to recognize customers in distress, and welcoming prevention advocates to firearm trade shows.

“This is a new way to go about reducing suicidal persons’ access to guns—not by promoting an anti-gun agenda but by asking gun owners to be part of the solution,” said Catherine Barber, who directs the Means Matter campaign to prevent suicide at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Harvard Injury Control Research Center.

Read the NBC News article: More than 20,000 Americans a year kill themselves with a gun. Alarmed gun sellers are joining the suicide prevention fight.

Learn more

Student and gun lobbyist find common ground on preventing firearm suicides (Harvard Chan School news)

Reducing gun suicides in New Hampshire (Harvard Chan School news)