JULY 7, 2020
by Ian Thomsen,
People who own a handgun are almost four times more likely to die by #suicide than those who don’t have guns, according to new research by Matt Miller, a professor of health sciences and epidemiology at Northeastern.
The findings, published by Miller’s group in the New England Journal of Medicine, come at a time when mental health professionals are bracing for a potential surge in suicides based on social and financial pressures borne of the #COVID-19 #pandemic.
“It reinforces what we in some ways already knew,” Miller says of the handguns study. “Which is that if someone is going through a hard time, the single most effective thing you can do to reduce the likelihood that that person is going to die is to get that gun out of the home, or otherwise make it inaccessible to the person who’s at risk.”
Limiting access to guns is crucial to mitigating deaths by #suicide because, as the study notes, #suicide attempts are “often impulsive acts, driven by transient life crises.” Miller says that when attempts are made with pills or by cutting—the most common methods—a fatal outcome is much less likely than if a gun had been used.
Among #suicide survivors in general, he says, fewer than 10 percent will go on to die in a subsequent attempt. Such reprieves are rare for people who attempt #suicide with a gun.
“The vast majority of people who attempt #suicide with a gun don’t get a second chance,” Miller says.
#JamesDonaldson notes:
Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.
Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.
Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space. #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticle
In a recent opinion column in the New York Times, Miller and his co-authors dispelled the myth that “people who really want to end their lives will find a way to do it.” Miller’s two decades of public health research have shown him that gun owners are not more suicidal than people who live in homes with no guns, but they are more likely to die by #suicide because when they make an attempt they are far more likely to use a gun.
“This underscores the fact that we as a society need to recognize the risk of suicide and do something about it, in the way that we have done something about drunk driving fatalities,” says Miller, who was senior author of the study. “When you’re drunk, I’m going to take away your car keys. Similarly, when people are going through hard times and there are guns in that home, it should be a no-brainer to remove those guns from the home and make them inaccessible as a way to save lives.”
The study found that 14 percent of the victims killed themselves in the first month of handgun ownership, which suggests that a small minority of people bought guns with the intent of #suicide. But more than 85 percent of the #suicide deaths happened months or years after the initial handgun purchase.
The study was able to break new ground because it relied on data from the state of California, where handguns are registered. It followed 26 million adults in California over a 12-year period, making it the first study to track gun owners from the day they purchased their first handgun.
“California has, in effect, a gun registry: They know who owns guns, when they acquire guns, and when they get rid of guns,” Miller says. “It would advance gun research greatly if other states had a similar record of gun transfers, in the way that we know whether somebody owns two cars or three cars. That makes California the go-to place for this kind of gun research.”
Miller says that he and his co-authors from Stanford, the University of California-Davis, the Erasmus Medical Center (Netherlands), and the University of Melbourne (Australia) are planning to collaborate on a variety of other California-based studies, including a deep look at the risk that a handgun imposes on children and other household members who are not the registered owner.
James Donaldson is a Washington State University graduate (’79). After an outstanding basketball career with WSU, he went on to play professional basketball in the NBA with the Seattle Supersonics, San Diego/L.A. Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, and Utah Jazz. He also played for several teams in the European Leagues in Spain, Italy, and Greece, and he toured with The Harlem Globetrotters to wrap up his career. James was an NBA All-Star in 1988 while playing center for the Dallas Mavericks. In 2006, James was inducted into the Pac-10 Sports Hall of Fame and also the Washington State University Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2010, James was elected as a board member for the NBA Retired Players Association.
James frequently conducts speaking engagements (motivational, inspirational, educational) for organizations, schools, and youth groups.
In 2010, James was the recipient of the NBA Legends of Basketball ABC Award, awarded for outstanding contributions in Athletics–Business–Community.
He believes in being a role model for success and professionalism to the scores of young people to whom he devotes so much of his time. He currently serves on several boards and committees and is a member of many organizations.
James believes in developing relationships that create a “Win-Win” environment for everyone involved, and in being the best he can be!
For more information about James Donaldson or to request he speak at your event, contact him at:
www.StandingAboveTheCrowd.com
[email protected]
1-800-745-3161 (voicemail & fax)
James Donaldson is the author of “Standing Above The Crowd” and “Celebrating Your Gift of Life” and founder of the Your Gift of Life Foundation which focuses on mental health awareness and suicide prevention, especially pertaining to our school aged children and men.
If you’re interested in having James come and speak to your group of young adults, business entrepreneurs, aspiring political and community leaders, and athletic teams, please contact him at [email protected] and or leave a personal message for him at 1-800-745-3161. Keep up with him and read about how he is reaching out and making a difference in the lives of so many around the world at www.yourgiftoflife.org
