I just shook my head when I opened the Sunday paper and saw on the front page the following two headlines: “Why does Utah have a high suicide rate” and “Packing at a quickened pace.” Forty-six percent of youth suicides in Utah use a gun. Guns are used for suicide for all ages in Utah 50.8 percent of the time. Between 2007 and 2011, 83.4 percent of all gun deaths in Utah were suicides. Public health studies demonstrate that “greater firearm availability is associated with greater risk for firearm suicide.”
As a health care provider, I have seen the devastation suicides cause to the families and friends who endure these tragedies. My comments are not meant to place blame but to caution the women in the other article to consider whether or not bringing a gun into your life will really make you safer in the long run.
Susan Chasson, Provo