Study links stricter laws, fewer gun suicides

WASHINGTON — Along with some of the country’s strictest gun laws, Connecticut has the fifth-lowest gun suicide rate in the United States.

That finding comes from the Violence Policy Center, which used 2016 data in a study of gun suicide deaths in every state. Gun violence experts said the study demonstrates that overall suicide rates could also fall if gun laws were further tightened.

The VPC is a nonprofit organization known for gun control advocacy.

In states like Montana and West Virginia — which have relatively lax gun laws — more than 50 percent of suicides were committed using firearms. But that rate dwindled to roughly 20 percent for states like Connecticut and New York.

“Where you have fewer homes with guns, you have lower gun suicide rates and lower overall suicide rates,” VPC Legislative Director Kristen Rand said in a release of the study. “People need to understand the risk when they bring guns into the home.”

Connecticut is ranked as having some of the strictest gun laws in the country. State law mandates that residents notify law enforcement if someone who owns a gun demonstrates a concerning mental health condition.

Rand said it’s largely a myth that people would find different means to kill themselves if they didn’t have access to a gun. Lower gun suicide rates correlate with overall low suicide rates, she said.

“Too many people think they’re making themselves safer when they bring the gun into the home, but the opposite is true,” Rand said.

Scott Wilson, the president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, said the study lacks information about other means of suicide, like overdosing and hanging.

Wilson said the VCL is using the study to claim that strict gun laws would prevent suicide, something he said often doesn’t hold true when depressed people find other ways to kill themselves.

“It’s kind of egregious (to suggest) that someone would not commit suicide because a gun is not available,” Wilson said.

But Jonathan Perloe, the director of communications for Connecticut Against Gun Violence, said the impulse to commit suicide is often quick, and that it’s more likely someone would kill themselves with a gun by their side. Without a gun, the impulse to commit suicide could subside without being acted upon, he said.

Perloe added that while there are substitutes for guns, the weapon is far more lethal than other means of self-harm, like overdosing with pills.

“Guns do not make you safer,” Perloe said. “There’s tons of evidence that if you have a gun in the home, you’re at much higher risk of successful suicide.”

State law mandates that residents notify law enforcement if someone who owns a gun demonstrates a concerning mental health condition, he said.

The law allows anyone to notify law enforcement if they know someone with access to a firearm who may be in danger to themselves or others, not only if someone has a concerning mental health condition.