MENTAL HEALTH

This Public Health Measure Bridges the National Divide over Firearms—Just Don’t Call It Gun Control

Some states have begun to buy into the need for off-site firearm storage to protect those at risk of suicide

By Sara Novak on October 19, 2023

Reading about death and suicidality can be distressing. Please read this in a moment where you feel safest and ready to do so.

For Jess Hegstrom, suicide prevention coordinator for Lewis and Clark County, Montana, the greatest gifts we can give to people struggling with suicide are time and space between their thoughts and their firearms. Suicide is often an impulsive decision, she says, but with guns, “you can’t call a bullet back.” When you’re in a dark place and don’t have access to highly lethal means such as a firearm, you’re less likely to die, she says.

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That’s part of the reason why Marian Betz, an emergency room physician and deputy director of the Injury & Violence Prevention Center at Colorado School of Public Health, began working on off-site gun storage. This is a place, she says, where both gun rights and gun control advocates can come together to save lives.

Colorado has one of the most robust programs when it comes to off-site gun storage. This program includes the Colorado Gun Storage Map, which lists shooting ranges, gun shops and police departments that are willing to temporarily store guns for individuals who may be experiencing a mental health crisis. This means having a number of sites agree to store firearms so that people have places to quickly turn to when they’re in crisis. Another aspect of the program is the Gun Shop Project, a public health campaign in which gun shop owners are educated on the risk of those with suicidal tendencies having access to lethal means. Similar online map tools have been established in Washington State and Wisconsin. With the help of Hegstrom and other suicide prevention advocates, Montana is currently laying the groundwork for storing more firearms off-site through public health campaigns to convince gun owners to do so when needed. This effort will require buy-in from residents of a state where 66 percent of adults own guns. In Mountain states such as Montana and others, the steps that could be taken could also mean something as simple as helping a friend in need by offering to temporarily store their guns when you see them struggling, Hegstrom says.

The idea is catching on among gun rights advocates. A study published in Injury Epidemiology in March found that a had stored their guns away from home in the past five years. “The key thing to remember is that this is about voluntary and temporary gun storage,” Betz says. “We’re not talking about confiscating anyone’s gun’s here.”

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