Committee makes strides with suicide outreach

Efforts to address problems at gun ranges garners attention from city attorney, Harvard University

A suicide prevention committee has garnered the attention of Santa Clarita City Councilman Bob Kellar, the Los Angeles City Attorney and Harvard University for its efforts in working with a gun club to reduce the number of suicides in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Thursday’s committee meeting was “very meaningful,” Kellar said, and that, while he is “a very strong proponent of the Second Amendment,” he was eager to help protect families.

“We can never take enough precautionary measures,” he said, adding that he intends to attend additional meetings.

Committee Chairman Larry Schallert, assistant director of Student Health and Wellness/ Mental Health at College of the Canyons, said Harvard University and the Los Angeles City Council have contacted him.

Among the ideas that have been discussed with Oak Tree Gun Club are the taking in and storing of firearms, posters addressing suicide prevention at every gun range and store and suicide prevention information in every firearm sold at Oak Tree.

Committee member Dr. Gene Dorio said statistics showed a large number of suicides are by way of firearms and that Oak Tree has incentive to address suicides at gun ranges.

“People have died committing suicide on their

property, and its traumatic for (employees)—mentally and emotionally,” he said of Oak Tree.

Dorio said there are some legal challenges.

“We are trying to connect, bridge all of this in a way that makes it legal, and so people’s rights aren’t undermined and that we can do things in a strategic way for education to get firearms out and make sure that everyone is safe,” he said.

Schallert said he received a phone call from Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer’s office saying he had heard of the committee from Harvard University.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office has been tasked by that city’s council to draft an ordinance that mandates signage about suicide prevention at every gun shop and gun range.

“They wanted my input and our community’s input, so I gave her my two cents worth,” he said.

Schallert had previously called Oak Tree’s plans to embed suicide prevention and awareness into staff training programs

and put suicide prevention material into every single firearm they sell a “game changer.”

Schallert said the gun club donated $2,000 to the cause of suicide prevention. Nineteen suicides were recorded in Santa Clarita last year, ten of them via firearms. There were more than 30 in 2016, according to Schallert.

Last month, the Means Reduction Subcommittee of the SCV Suicide Prevention, Postvention and Wellness Committee met at Oak Tree Gun Club and discussed the possibility of the gun club starting a program for gun owners at risk of suicide to voluntarily and temporarily turn over firearms while the owner seeks help.

Betsy James, whose family has owned the gun club since 2000, said there were some logistical and legal hurdles to clear, along with the creation of a vetting process. She said many people do not want guns in their home simply because they do not have a place to store them.

The SCV Suicide

Prevention, Postvention and Wellness Committee has worked to decrease the number of people who end their lives over the

past five years by providing tools for those with mental illnesses and equip people with the knowledge to help

recognize warning signs.

For those considering suicide, call the 24hour prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.