There are over 30,000 deaths a year caused by firearms. If you were to believe the narrative of the National Rifle Association, those must all be criminals committing murders or "law-abiding" citizens using their weapons to stop crimes.
But actually, what happened in southwestern Wisconsin this month represents the typical use of a gun in a death: suicide. In Montfort, a troubled young woman, Morgan Slaight, used a pistol to shoot her 8-year old son and his 6-year old brother. Jaxon, the older brother died, at the scene. Slaight died in the hospital. Joseph, the 6-year old, fights for his life.
Slaight used a gun owned by her brother-in-law. I suppose even the NRA would agree that there should be hard questions asked of the brother-in-law about why he left a gun and ammunition accessible to a woman with obvious mental health issues.
But more importantly, the incident reveals the limits of the notion that is at the heart of the NRA narrative, that everything would be fine if only "law-abiding citizens" had access to firearms. Presumably Slaight's relative was law-abiding, and now she and her son are dead.
A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found a link between guns in the home and suicide. The finding is pretty much just common sense. Most suicide attempts are made at a moment of deep depression or high stress. If less-than-lethal means are used, the person survives and goes on. In fact, only one in 45 suicide attempts is successful. The problem with guns is that they are such efficient killing machines.
Almost two-thirds of the gun deaths in America are suicides. About 20,000 of us use guns to take our own lives, far more than ever use a gun to protect ourselves or our property.
If you think guns make us safer consider what happened in the quiet community of Montfort. It wasn't an aberration. It's how guns are too often used in America. And that's the narrative that the NRA doesn't want you to hear.
