Gun safety to be part of Trump’s national plan on suicide prevention

An emphasis on gun safety is part of President Trump’s announcement Wednesday of a national strategy to reduce suicides, senior administration officials said.

The 10-point plan being announced by the president will include a national public health campaign to dispel myths about suicide. It is partly directed at veterans, but it’s increasingly important to other groups during the coronavirus crisis, aides said.

A senior administration official involved in the effort said the national “road map” for preventing suicides will include “programs that focus on lethal-means safety,” including safe storage of firearms.

The official said the administration has been encouraging firearms associations and gun shop owners to recognize “indicators” of suicide and “encouraging people in all variety of different ways to work with law enforcement officials” to promote safe gun storage.

“What we don’t want to do … especially with our veterans who are avid hunters and collectors, in any way shape or form, do anything else that would make them less likely to get help,” the official said.

A second administration official told reporters that some veterans are reluctant to seek help for mental health issues because they fear that their firearms will be confiscated.

“The focus again is on reaching these groups and communicating to them, so that there’s cultural change,” the official said. “It’s not on mandating or taking people’s weapons away. Veterans are passionate about their weapons for their self-protection, for hunting, for all sorts of purposes, and we don’t want to be a problem there.”

About 6,000 veterans per year take their own lives. Mr. Trump signed an executive order a year ago calling for the development of a national strategy to address the crisis.

Aides said the effort will go beyond veterans, noting that suicide is the second-leading cause of death for the 10-to-35 age group. They said the coronavirus crisis is adding to stresses that can lead to suicide.

“We have to change the culture of mental health, and specifically around suicide within the veteran community but also more broadly,” an official said.