Written by Alban Fousler, Ph.D., Danielle Currin, Ph.D., and Sallie Mack, Ph.D.
Suicide by gun is on the rise in the United States; rates of suicide by gun set national records in both 2021 and 2022 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2023; Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, 2023). While guns are used in fewer than 10 percent of suicide attempts (Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, 2023), guns are an extremely lethal method, with 90 percent of suicide attempts by gun resulting in death (Cai et al., 2022).
As clinical psychologists in training, we have found ourselves asking the question: What can we do? One historical example offers an initial path forward.
In the mid-1960s, suicide rates in the United Kingdom decreased drastically, from 244 per million in 1963 to 151 per million in 1975 (McClure, 2000). Research by Kreitan (1976) revealed that this change was due to a change in the type of gas used to power household stoves.
Until the 1950s, coal and oil gas in household stoves contained high levels of carbon monoxide. In the 1950s and 1960s, coal gas was replaced by natural gas, which contains almost no carbon monoxide, making the stoves much less lethal. The result was a huge decrease in suicide rates.
This famous example demonstrates that removing access to lethal means can significantly reduce suicide rates. So, why can’t we do the same with guns?
Two primary areas of concern arise when considering the introduction of gun control policies in the United States: financial cost and public opinion. In 1974, Baltimore, Maryland enacted the nation’s first official gun buyback program, in which individuals could surrender their firearms in exchange for $50. While over 10,000 guns were collected and destroyed through the program, gun violence in the city was not significantly impacted, and no research on its efficacy as a suicide........