askchapo

There are ways to make it safer, but ultimately it’s hard to argue for a solid yes, and I reckon there’s studies showing that death by suicide is more likely among folks or households with access to firearms (I know that states with looser gun regulation experience more deaths by suicide overall)

In suicide prevention, there is what’s called “Counselling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM)” where someone might walk you through of ways of building distance (e.g., temporal, physical, etc.) between you and access to a firearm, for example. It would include things like storing ammo or your gun offsite, limiting your personal access to your gun stuff (e.g., store it in a safe that only someone you trust has the code to, not even yourself), keeping your ammo frozen inside a block of ice, etc. Data shows that suicide-related thoughts can fluctuate dramatically in just a few minutes or hours, meaning that many suicidal crises can come and go naturally (for lack of a better word). Anything that will make your gun harder or slower to access will keep you safer for times you experience an emotional/suicidal crisis, but this might contradict why you want your gun in the first place.

It’s also possible that if the police know you have a firearm and they come to you on a “wellness check”, you might be at increased odds of a bad outcome, like police escalating to violence and/or being forcefully detained and brought to a hospital.

I can share some resources or links if you’d like?