Thread by @kmcApple

Gun suicide deaths by state for 2016. For 20,000 people, mostly men, guns are the means. States in red have seen sharper increases. 85% of suicide attempts by gun are fatal. #gunsuicides #publichealth

Stats of the State - Suicide Mortality cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom… via @CDCgov

The CDC can track data on gun deaths, but since 2001, the passing of the Dickey Amendment effectively blocked expansive CDC research on the public health effects of firearms.

2016 CDC budget :

$50,000: to track data on all injuries nationwide, including firearm-related ones.

$11 million: for research and prevention of arthritis 

$6 million for research into prion disease, a fatal illness that affects an estimated 300 people each year.

Why the CDC Hasn't Launched a Detailed Gun Study since 2001
google.com/amp/s/abcnews.…

The new 2018 budget gives the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the authority to conduct research on "the causes of gun violence." So, where's the funding?

Spending Bill Lets CDC Study Gun Violence; But Researchers Are Skeptical It Will Help
npr.org/sections/healt…

More suicide deaths involve guns than homicides. More than 60 percent of all gun deaths in the United States are suicides.

A landmark study in 1993 showed that bringing a gun into the home puts everyone at much greater risk. This led to an NRA push to stop

taxpayer funded research that advocated gun control. The resulting Dickey Amendment doesn't prevent research yet the government chose almost a blanket application.

Congress Quashed Research Into Gun Violence. Since Then, 600,000 People Have Been Shot.
google.com/amp/s/www.nyti…

We are Missing Decades of Research on Gun Violence
google.com/amp/s/www.psyc…

Even Congressmen James Dickey , the self-promoted NRA point person for the Dickey Bill had a change of heart in 2012 and advocated for evidence-based research preventing firearm injuries.

Ways "to prevent firearm deaths can be found without encroaching on the rights of legitimate gun owners."

Congressman Dickey, 2012

Why, then, does Congress continue to renew the Dickey Amendment every year?

Meanwhile, the gun industry and the suicide-prevention community have quietly partnered together to fit suicide prevention into their mission to promote the safe use of guns.

Hundreds of gun dealers, range owners and firearms instructors now share suicide-prevention literature,

emphasize prevention techniques in their concealed-carry classes, teach workers to recognize distress among customers and welcome prevention advocates to firearm trade shows.

In Utah, where firearm related suicides were 86 percent of all of the state’s firearm-related deaths

Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, the state's biggest gun-rights lobbying group, joined the Utah Suicide Prevention Coalition to distribute literature at gun shops, produce videos and include suicide-prevention training in concealed-carry courses.

The Utah suicide rate is twice the national rate. Suicide prevention has been an effective way to weaken the standoff between the gun industry and public health advocates, and to work towards a common goal.

“It’s a chance to overturn myths about suicide in the gun-owning community,” said Bill Brassard Jr., a National Shooting Sports Foundation spokesman.
#gunsuicides #publichealth #gunsense

Alarmed gun sellers are joining the suicide prevention fight. google.com/amp/s/www.nbcn…

.@threadreaderapp Unroll. Please and thanks.

This subject is often stressful. Here's a blood pressure break.

And a breathing break;

Inhale....

....and exhale. Thanks for reading.