Let's return now to our ongoing coverage of guns in America. A new
poll out today finds that most Americans 71% believe gun laws should
be stricter, and one in five now say that they are family member
or a close friend has experienced gun violence or been threatened
by it in the past five years among black Americans, that number jumps
to more than 50%.
At the same time, 60% say it's still important that people can own
guns for personal protection When it comes to gun deaths in America.
Suicide is still the leading cause. William Branham recently went
to Wyoming, the state with the highest suicide rate to look at the
movement trying to change the conversation around mental health and
firearms and a warning. This story contains details about suicides
that some viewers may find disturbing.
I didn't know there was
A problem with Cowboys.
And suicide at Grace for two brothers, a suicide prevention group
in Cheyenne. Andrea and Molly Allen have stopped by for a check in
just nine months earlier. Their son and brother Cole took his own
life with a gun just after starting college. I know Cole didn't know
what he wanted to do, and
He just didn't have hope they was gonna find his gift.
I had people tell me suicides for cowards and all this stuff, and
I'm like, Did you know cold? Very well.
Because if you know, Cole them you knew that kid wasn't a coward
and
I think that people should bite their tongue until they've actually
been through this that situation. Dan Hedrick, who goes by Daigneault
is the grief support coordinator here. Each survivor has their little
Regret or they're guilty thing that they carry with them. If he has
been through this situation 11 years ago, he lost his younger brother,
David, to a firearm suicide. So this was all filled with trailers
for many years, Hedrick's family owned and ran a military surplus
store on this large lot in Cheyenne.
But the family was winding the business down.
The task of emptying trailers full of supplies and cleaning up the
site fell to David, who had long been struggling with both his mental
health and physical pain from his prior work on the railroads.
I think on the lot right now there's seven trailers.
Back when they started. There were 73 trailers.
Each of them was enormous job ahead of him, in my opinion.
That was something that really weighed on him.
Because nobody was here to help him with that task, and it was something
he had to do alone.
And it was so insurmountable that he had problems actually, you know,
facing it.
After his brother's death, struggled with what he might have done
differently and eventually channeled some of that pain into his work
with other suicide survivors.
Now, in the aftermath of a suicide, he visits with families to help
them better understand the narrowed lens that might have left their
loved one feeling. There was no other option.
If you walked into a restaurant and grabbed a straw from the waitress,
and you start looking down that straw
The suicidal mind only sees what's
The end of that straw. They don't see a pastor. They don't see the
girlfriend. They don't see the buddies. You go have a beer with They
don't see the nieces and nephews and grand kids that everybody's
had. All they see is is the problem that is eating their lunch, taking
his life with a gun. Danos younger brother joined a grizzly fraternity.
Firearm suicides accounted for more than half of the roughly 45,000
gun deaths in this country. In 2020, the most recent year data is
available.
Older white men are particularly at risk.
He was the type of person that would
Pull up his boots, and it's like, okay, I can cowboy through this.
Watch me cowboy through this right out in Wyoming. That's some of
the problem. We have.
Not at my house. It's it's a football field in any direction to a
neighbor.
And you have somebody that's out there that hasn't addressed their
mental issues. It's a perfect storm if all of the elements come together
for them, researchers say that on top of the isolation and the lack
of mental health services would also helps explain the high rate
of suicide in Wyoming in the mountain west. More broadly, is the
high rate of gun ownership.
The connection between the lethality of firearms and the risk of
suicide. Death is not something that's been
Been talked about enough doctor Emmy. Betz is an emergency physician
at the University of Colorado's and shuts Medical center. Did he
have anything else? Like a rifle? She also studies firearm violence
physician. I see a lot of individuals who have been shot or risk
of violence. I see every day I see someone at risk of suicide. But
I don't see many
Cases where someone has shot themselves in a suicide attempt because
people usually die at home because guns are good at what they're
designed to do correct points out that the vast majority nine out
of 10 people who survived a suicide attempt don't go on to kill themselves
later. But because firearms are so lethal nine and 10 don't survive
that particular method. Most people who
Attempt. Suicide are in a temporary crisis and they get better and
most people who survived an attempt or grateful to have survived.
So I think we really need to stop looking at it as this inevitable
but also personal life choice and sort of hands off, and we need
to see that it's actually just sometimes when people are in the midst
of
Crisis. For whatever reason, they might not be thinking straight,
and that's a time when you don't want to be around dangerous objects
we need. Unfortunately to take a minute and talk about suicide Doctor
Bets co founded what's known as the Colorado Firearms Safety Coalition,
a group of public health researchers, gun shop owners and firearm
instructors working to overcome the stigma around suicide in the
gun community.
At the bristlecone gun shop and range west of Denver. That work is
being put into practice
person under big time stress. You got a gun in the same room at the
same time, That's a recipe for disaster.
In training classes and literature around the store.
With temporary gun storage for up to 90 days for people who might
be experiencing a crisis
with us before, even by training staff to be alert for possible warning
signs among customers and creating a policy of refusing to rent guns
to new customers who come in alone or who seemed to be in distress.
We had a guy come in a while ago who
Just started talking to the staff about marital problems.
That he had just uncovered that morning and wanted to go out on the
range. So that's where I think the policy helps. We have several
from the gunshot project here in Colorado. Jacqueline Clarke co founded
the Firearm Safety Coalition, and she owns this store with her husband,
Brian, can play a small part in creating that time and space.
Between somebody who's in mental crisis and very lethal means that
I'm all about it. And if I lose a customer because of it here, there,
that's okay.
Customers understand it does the as you described it. The Second
Amendment community understand that I think they understand it a
lot better than they did even five years ago. There's definitely
a stigma that surrounds a suicide conversation. I think a lot of
people feel that
If they are talking with somebody who is in a state of mental crisis.
If they bring up suicide, they might plant an idea in somebody's
mind. And that's just
Not the case. In fact, there is no evidence that bringing up suicide
makes a person more suicidal, and in fact, it can provide a moment
for someone struggling to ask for help. And Clark says, the trauma
of witnessing a suicide on the range something that's happened here
and at many ranges.
Continues to haunt her staff. It's traumatic on so many levels they
feel responsible, and that person may have shown none of the warning
signs that we train them to look out for another level of traumas.
Just the violence of it, Seeing something like that you can never
unsee it.
Ever.
Back in Wyoming. Hedrick carries that trauma as well.
He now advocates for things like temporary gun storage and gun locks.
Anything that can remove the immediate danger or even just slow someone
down when they're experiencing a moment of crisis.
But amid all that work, he's still grappling with the death of his
own brother.
It's gotten to where it has eased a little bit.
So now, instead of being an open wound that
you suddenly toss salt, and it's like this
Irritated scar or something that doesn't it's there, but it doesn't
hurt as bad as it did initially.
For the PBS news hour. I'm William Branham in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
And for more on this country's epidemic of gun violence, Look out
for upcoming documentary posted by William Branham and called Ricochet