PREVENT FIREARM SUICIDE: - Service Members and Veterans

4 Since 2008, the DoD has also published an annual Suicide Event Report, which provides further depth and interpretations of military suicide data, including risk and contextual factors; the new ASR supplements the Suicide Event Report by providing a mechanism for more timely release of official annual DoD suicide rates to the public. [...] Both the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) recognize that access to firearms increases the risk for suicide and that in order to meaningfully prevent suicide among service members, veterans, and their families, addressing access to firearms must be part of a comprehensive suicide prevention plan. [...] Safely storing and limiting access to firearms for the gun owner and other people in the home is a suicide prevention strategy supported by both the DoD and VA. [...] The fact that the DoD and VA are publicly recognizing and promoting addressing access to firearms as an important component in suicide prevention has the potential to shift cultural norms around gun storage and acceptability of talking about lethal means safety and firearms in the context of suicide prevention. [...] Prevent Firearm Suicide shares effective, evidence-based interventions for firearm suicide prevention; information on the intersection of firearms and suicide including risk factors and statistics; state-level firearm suicide data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia; and hosts a robust directory of educational materials, initiatives, research, and other resources about firearm suicide p.