Just Another Statistic

There's been a lot of talk about guns in our country...for a long time.  For most of my adult life I was aware of guns being used, not only as tools of the police or hunters, but for violence.

There was a mass shooting at the University of Iowa when I was a student (a friend who was disliked by the gunman avoided being a victim because she happened to fill in at work for me that day instead of going to the meeting in the Physics Dept where the shooting happened). 

The Columbine shootings happened right after Shawn and I moved to Colorado.  I was saddened but detached (my typical reaction when these "big" things happen in the news).  Shawn was devastated - it happened the day before his birthday and he actually drove the 90 minutes to Denver to attend a candlelight vigil.

There are lots of others that come to mind:  at a McDonald's in California in the 1970s when we happened to be there visiting my Grandparents, Virginia Tech, Aurora movie theatre.  And, of course, there is Newtown - which caused anxiety for anyone who has to send a child off to school in the morning.

What I didn't realize until recently is that, by far, people using guns against *themselves* far surpasses all the other acts of violence combined.

When I heard these statistics I was stunned. 

People who attempt suicide by gun have a very high success rate.

50% of all suicides are by gun.

White males, about 40% of the U.S. population, accounted for over 80% of firearm suicides in 2010.

A study of California handgun purchasers found that in the first year after the purchase of a handgun, suicide was the leading cause of death among the purchasers.

Shawn is just another statistic among so many.

For someone who saw himself as "terminally unique" (to use the words of a friend) he did something totally un-unique.

I know that Shawn had thought about suicide for many, many years and had never made an attempt.  Until he had a gun, that is.

If he hadn't purchased guns a year before his death might he have just gone up into the woods and hiked up his favorite trail and gotten drunk?

I have no answers to suggest that would change or even make a small impact on these statistics. 

Outlaw guns?  No.  Look at what has happened in the US with our drug laws.

Keep them out of the hands of the mentally ill?  Sure.  But who decides?  And does it prevent people from seeking treatment if they get on a "list"?  Would Shawn have been someone on the "list" of people who shouldn't own a gun?  If they had asked me I would have said "NO - it's not safe!"  But Amber must have thought it was okay for him to start buying guns, right?  And what about his parents?  Did they see the danger signs that I did when I heard from the kids that Shawn had become a gun owner after the divorced?

Education?  What do we tell these young-middle aged men?  Just don't do it? 

What can be done about this gruesome statistic?