Can gun storage programs stop suicides? This researcher says safeguarding a firearm "until the...

This supports my constant call for gun owner responsibility.

The reasons firearms in suicide discussions get an inordinate amount of attention are two-fold - success rate in attempt and political ideology. I completely agree with securely storing a firearm, however the focus on successful suicide attempts involving firearms often leads to a view that "can't see the forest because of the focus on the trees".

According to the CDC (using the WONDERS and WISQARS databases), in 2022 there were:
• Over 2.5 MILLION suicide attempts (1.6M adults (18+) and 953k adolescents age 12-17)
• 544,992 nonfatal attempts (21.35%) were seen in an emergency room of which 361,426 were more than "treated and released" (hospitalized, left against medical advice, transferred to another facility, etc.)
• 49,476 successful suicides (1.94% of attempts) - 27k by firearm, 12.2k by suffocation/hanging, 6.2k by poisoning (drug/non-drug), and over 4k other (bleeding, auto, falling, etc.)

For the top-five methods* of suicide attempts, the success rate are the following:
• Poisoning (drug + non-drug) - 250,025 attempts - 10% of suicide attempts / 2.4% success rate
• Cut/Bleeding/Exsanguination - 160,391 attempts - 0.6% of suicide attempts / 6.32% success rate
• Other Specified cause - 70,803 attempts - 2.77% of suicide attempts / 5.71% success rate
• Firearms - 32,099 attempts - 1.26% of suicide attempts / 84.2% success rate
• Suffocation/hanging - 25,459 attempts - 1% of suicide attempts / 48.1% success rate

Firearms are absolutely the most successful cause of suicide deaths, but firearms are only used in 1.26% of the suicide attempts. Regardless of the mechanism, 2.5 million individuals tried to end their lives in 2022.

Specific to the story, I think the ability for a firearm owner to voluntarily secure their firearm away from immediate access by them if they are going through a crisis is a good one. Kind of a "no harm, no foul" type of process where they can remove that mechanism from themselves if they are going through a crisis.

However, as the article points out, few of those 2.5M have not asked for help, haven't sought help, and didn't tell anyone about their suicidal thoughts. Would a suicidal firearm owner take advantage of storing their firearm offsite if they are in crisis? Some undoubtedly would, but most that would take advantage of it would be those that are being influenced by others (e.g., a spouse that sees them in crisis and wants to remove the firearm temporarily).

As many have said repeatedly, there is a mental health crisis in this country. Historically, the highest rate of suicide was during the Great Depression in the 1930s where the rate reached a historical peak of almost 22 individuals per 100,000 individuals (~50 per 100,000 in adults between 55-74 years of age). While the recent rates are about 2/3rds of that rate (2022 - 14.2 per 100,000), there has been an almost 40% increase in the last 24 years (2000 was the lowest historical rate with 10.4 per 100,000).
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* CDC WONDERS database - https://wonder.cdc.gov/
* CDC WISQARS database - https://wisqars.cdc.gov/
* Method descriptions:
• Poisoning - Ingestion, inhalation, absorption through the skin, or injection of so much of a drug, toxin (biologic or nonbiologic), or other chemical that a harmful effect results, such as drug overdoses.
• Cut/pierce/stab - Injury resulting from an incision, slash, perforation, or puncture by a pointed or sharp instrument, weapon, or object
• Other specified causes - Injury associated with any other specified cause that does not fit another category. Some examples include causes such as electric current, electrocution, explosive blast, fireworks, overexposure to radiation, welding flash burn, or animal scratch
• Firearm - A penetrating force injury resulting from a bullet or other projectile shot from a powder-charged gun
• Suffocation - Intentional or accidental mechanical suffocation due to hanging, strangulation, lack of air in a closed place, plastic bag or falling earth