89: Suicide, Gender, and Firearms

Firearms are the most common means of suicide in the United States, and Brady's End Family Fire program addresses the heartbreaking facts that:

• Firearms are by far the deadliest method of suicide -- 90% of suicide attempts with a gun are fatal, while suicide attempts with other methods are (on average) only fatal in 4% of cases, and;
• The vast majority of people who survive a suicide attempt -- 90% -- don’t go on to die by suicide. 70% never make another attempt.

Yet, too few Americans know this--or are comfortable talking about it. To discuss firearm suicide in general, and to get into the data on how and why gender matters, JJ and Kelly are joined by Dr. Kyleanne Hunter, Sarah Brady Fellow at Brady, and Dr. Eric Mankowski, a Professor of Psychology at Portland State University.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Characteristics of adult male and female firearm suicide decedents (BMJ)
• Gender and the impact of gun control on suicide and homicide (Archives of Suicide Research)
• The Accessibility of Firearms and Risk for Suicide and Homicide Victimization Among Household Members (Annals of Internal Medicine)
• State Firearm Laws and Rates of Suicide in Men and Women (National Library of Medicine)