Did you know more people use guns to commit suicide than they do to kill each other? I didn’t.
Over the last decade, suicides have accounted for more than 60 % of gun deaths in our country.
We have the highest suicide rate of any wealthy nation. And middle-aged white men, like me, are most likely to die by suicide and other deaths of despair. A close friend tried to kill himself several times, twice by alcohol and pills and once with a kitchen knife.
Fortunately, he failed. But if he had access to a gun, chances are much greater he would have ended his own life.
If you could do something to prevent a suicide by gun, would you? Turns out you can. Today!
Encourage your state representatives to support the Extreme Risk Protection Order bill currently under consideration.
When a person is in crisis, family members and law enforcement are often the first to notice. Let’s give them the power to act.
Research shows that similar “red flag” laws—which require a full legal process to initiate—reduced gun suicides in Connecticut and Indiana, while protecting the constitutional right to own firearms.
Please contact your reps, and Governor Lee, and ask them to support this bill, HB 1588/SB 412. Let’s make our state safer for people in crisis.
Dan Bray, Nashville 37215