The Data Behind Gun Deaths: CDC Expands Study Into The Why Of Firearm Suicides

“Suicide still has a stigma attached to it and that makes it harder for people to openly discuss. And often [they] instinctually look away.”

By Heath DruzinNovember 19, 2019 9:30 amHealth & Science, KERA, Partner Organizations, Texas Newsroom

Heath Druzin / Boise State Public Radio

George Austin, the clinical lead supervisor of he Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline, says it’s a constant struggle to get enough support to combat suicide. A project from the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention is studying the underlying causes of violent deaths, including suicide, and just expanded to all 50 states.

From KERA:

For more than 20 years, studying guns and health has been a challenge for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Entangled in the messy world of gun politics, researchers have struggled to study violent deaths. But a nationwide program that recently expanded to all 50 states is changing that.

This year, Idaho, Texas and eight other states are getting an infusion of federal funds to study violent deaths, including gun suicides. It’s part of the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention’s National Violent Death Reporting System, which aims to find the underlying causes of violent deaths, rough 30% of which are gun suicides. The new states mean the CDC is studying violent deaths in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

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