Keeping firearms out of easy reach key to preventing military suicides
By Meghann Myers
Feb 24, 04:48 PM
An independent review commission recommended dozens of changes to Defense Department suicide prevention programs. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Limiting easy access to guns, including those purchased on base, is one of the top ways the Defense Department could cut down on military deaths by suicide, according to an independent commission tasked with reviewing the Defense Department’s suicide prevention programs.
Firearms are used in 66% of suicides among active duty troops, 72% among reservists and 78% in the National Guard, according to the commission’s report, whereas guns are employed in roughly half of suicides in the U.S. overall.
The Defense Department has tried to decrease access to lethal means, but the commission found it could do more to track firearms purchases on military bases, one of more than 100 recommendations it made in a report released Friday. The report was the culmination of hundreds of focus groups from nine site visits around the world since the summer.
“Often ... someone found out that a service member had purchased or acquired a firearm, often on base at a military exchange ... only after they had used it to kill themselves,” said Craig Bryan, an Air Force veteran and clinical psychologist at Ohio State University, in a briefing Friday. “This was a common refrain in our site visits, that military personnel wanted to encourage a culture of secure firearm storage, and also to reduce convenient access to firearm acquisition, especially for those who are in acutely elevated distress.”
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2023/02/24/keeping-firearms-out-of-easy-reach-key-to-preventing-military-suicides/
