Suicide attempts are common, impulsive, one-time efforts that are not ever repeated and almost always not fatal – unless a gun is involved. Suicide fatality depends on the lethality of the method used; firearms are extremely lethal. The US has the highest prevalence of civilian-owned firearms than any other country in the world and the highest rates of suicide by firearm, usually by a handgun. In 2021 there were over 27,000 suicides by firearm: That’s about once every eight hours, every day! The irony is that most gun owners purchase their first firearm for personal protection. The study found an elevated risk of suicide among many of the first-time handgun owners. The risk of suicide by firearm peaked in the period immediately after their first handgun acquisition.

Firearms not only make it more likely that the suicide will succeed, but the risk of suicide is also three times as high when there is firearm access as when there is not. Another recent study tracked firearm ownership and mortality for more than a decade of over 26 million adults. In this study, handgun owners were slightly younger than nonowners, male (78.1%), white (74.7%), and living in a rural area. Given these population characteristics, it’s not surprising that males accounted for 70% of the suicides and 83% of the........

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