Suicides from firearms prompt movement to address mental health stigmas

Amna Nawaz:

Let's return now to our ongoing coverage of guns in America.

A new poll out today finds that most Americans, 71 percent, believe gun laws should be stricter, and one in five now say that they, a family member or a close friend has experienced gun violence or been threatened by it in the past five years. Among Black Americans, that number jumps to more than 50 percent.

At the same time, 60 percent say it's still important that people can own guns for personal protection. When it comes to gun deaths in America, suicide is still the leading cause.

William Brangham recently went to Wyoming, the state with the highest suicide rate, to look at a movement trying to change the conversation around mental health and firearms.

And a warning:

This story contains details about suicides that some viewers may find disturbing.

Andrea Allen, Lost Son to Firearm Suicide: I didn't know there was a problem with cowboys and suicide.

William Brangham:

At Grace For 2 Brothers, a suicide prevention group in Cheyenne, Andrea and Molly Allen have stopped by for a check-in.

Just nine months earlier, their son and brother Cole took his own life with a gun, just after starting college.

Andrea Allen:

I know Cole didn't know what he wanted to do. And he just didn't have hope that he was going to find his gift.

Molly Allen, Lost Brother to Firearm Suicide: I had people tell me suicide is for cowards and all this stuff. And I'm like, did you know Cole very well? Because, if you knew Cole, then you knew that kid wasn't a coward. And I think that people should bite their tongue until they have actually been through this — that situation.

William Brangham:

Dan Hedrick, who goes by Danno, is the grief support coordinator here.

Dan Hedrick, Grief Support Coordinator, Grace For 2 Brothers: Each survivor has their little regret or their guilty thing that they carry with them.

William Brangham:

He has been through his own situation. Eleven years ago, he lost his younger brother, David, to a firearm suicide.

Dan Hedrick:

So, this was all filled with trailers.

William Brangham:

For many years, Hedrick's family owned and ran a military surplus store on this large lot in Cheyenne, but the family was winding the business down.

The task of emptying trailers full of supplies and cleaning up the site fell to David, who had long been struggling with both his mental health and physical pain from his prior work on the railroads.

Dan Hedrick:

I think, on the lot right now, there are seven trailers. Back when they started, there were 73 trailers.

William Brangham:

Wow.

Dan Hedrick:

Each of them was…

William Brangham:

An enormous job ahead of him.

Dan Hedrick:

Yes.

In my opinion, that was something that really weighed on him, because nobody was here to help him with that task. And it was something he had to do alone. And it was so insurmountable that he had problems actually facing it.

William Brangham:

After his brother's death, Danno struggled with what he might have done differently and eventually channeled some of that pain into his work with other suicide survivors.

Now, in the aftermath of a suicide, he visits with families to help them better understand the narrowed lens that might have left their loved one feeling there was no other option.

Dan Hedrick:

If you walk into a restaurant and grabbed a straw from the waitress and you start looking down that straw, the suicidal mind only sees what's out the end of that straw. They don't see a pastor. They don't see the girlfriend. They don't see the buddies you go have a beer with. They don't see the nieces and nephews and grandkids that everybody's had.

All they see is the problem that is eating their lunch.

William Brangham:

In taking his life with a gun, Danno's younger brother joined a grisly fraternity. Firearm suicides accounted for more than half of the roughly 45,000 gun deaths in this country in 2020, the most recent year data is available. Older white men are particularly at risk.

Dan Hedrick:

He was the kind of person who would pull up his boots, and it's like, OK, I can cowboy through this. Watch me.

William Brangham:

Cowboy through this, right.

Dan Hedrick:

And out in Wyoming, that's that's some of the problem we have. Out at my house, it's a football field in any direction to a neighbor, and you have somebody that's out there that hasn't addressed their mental issues. It's a perfect storm if all of the elements come together for them.

William Brangham:

Researchers say that, on top of the isolation and the lack of mental health services, what also helps explain the high rate of suicide in Wyoming and the Mountain West more broadly is the high rate of gun ownership.

Dr. Emmy Betz, University of Colorado Anschutz: The connection between the lethality of firearms and the risk of suicide death is not something that's been talked about enough.

William Brangham:

Dr. Emmy Betz is an emergency physician at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Center.

Dr. Emmy Betz:

Did he have anything else, like a rifle?

William Brangham:

She also studies firearm violence.

Dr. Emmy Betz:

As an E.R. physician, I see a lot of individuals who've been shot or at risk of violence. I see — every day, I see someone at risk of suicide.

But I don't see many cases where someone has shot themself in a suicide attempt, because people usually die at home.

William Brangham:

Because guns are good at what they're designed to do.

Dr. Emmy Betz:

Correct.

William Brangham:

She points out that the vast majority, nine out of 10 people, who survive a suicide attempt don't go on to kill themselves later.

But, because firearms are so lethal, nine in 10 don't survive that particular method.

Dr. Emmy Betz:

Most people who attempt suicide are in a temporary crisis, and they get better. And most people who survive an attempt are grateful to have survived.

So I think we really need to stop looking at it as this inevitable, but also personal life choice and sort of hands off, and we need to see that it's actually just sometimes when people are in the midst of crisis for whatever reason, they might not be thinking straight. And that's a time when you don't want to be around dangerous objects.

Person:

We need, unfortunately, to take a minute and talk about suicide.

William Brangham:

Dr. Betz co-founded what's known as the Colorado Firearm Safety Coalition, a group of public health researchers, gun shop owners, and firearm instructors working to overcome the stigma around suicide in the gun community.

At the Bristlecone gun shop and range west of Denver, that work is being put into practice.

Person:

You have got a person under big-time stress, you have got a gun the same room at the same time, that is a recipe for disaster.

William Brangham:

In training classes and literature around the store, with temporary gun storage for up to 90 days for people who might be experiencing a crisis…

Person:

You never shopped with us before?

William Brangham:

… and even by training staff to be alert for possible warning signs among customers, and creating a policy of refusing to rent guns to new customers who come in alone or who seem to be in distress.

Jacquelyn Clark, Colorado Firearm Safety Coalition:

We had a guy come in a while ago who just started talking to the staff about marital problems that he had just uncovered that morning and wanted to go out on the range. So, that's where I think the policy helps.

William Brangham:

Jacquelyn Clark co-founded the Firearm Safety Coalition, and she owns the store with her husband, Bryan.

Jacquelyn Clark:

If I can play a small part in creating that time and space between somebody who's in mental crisis and a very lethal means, then I'm all about that. And if I lose a customer because of it here or there, that's OK.

William Brangham:

Do customers understand it? Does the — as you describe it, the Second Amendment community understand that?

Jacquelyn Clark:

I think they understand it a lot better than they did even five years ago. There's definitely a stigma that surrounds a suicide conversation.

I think a lot of people feel that, if they are talking with somebody who is in a state of mental crisis, if they bring up suicide, they might plant an idea in somebody's mind. And that's just not the case.

William Brangham:

In fact, there's no evidence that bringing up suicide makes a person more suicidal. And, in fact, it can provide a moment for someone struggling to ask for help.

And Clark says the trauma of witnessing a suicide on the range, something that's happened here and at many ranges, continues to haunt her staff.

Jacquelyn Clark:

It's traumatic on so many levels. They feel responsible. And that person may have shown none of the warning signs that we train them to look out for. Another level of trauma is just the violence of it. Seeing like something like that, you can never unsee it, ever.

William Brangham:

Back in Wyoming, Danno Hedrick carries that trauma as well. He now advocates for things like temporary gun storage and gun locks, anything that can remove the immediate danger or even just slow someone down when they're experiencing a moment of crisis.

But amid all that work, he's still grappling with the death of his own brother.

Dan Hedrick:

It has gotten to where it has eased a little bit. Now, instead of being an open wound that you suddenly toss salt in, it's like this irritated scar or something that doesn't — it's there, but it doesn't hurt as bad as it did initially.

William Brangham:

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Amna Nawaz:

And for more on this country's epidemic of gun violence, look out for our upcoming documentary hosted by William Brangham and called "Ricochet: An American Trauma," premiering on PBS October 5.