Suicides at a Gun Range
Police in Royal Oaks, Michigan, a Detroit suburb say City there have been five suicides and two attempts since 2001 at Target Sports, a gun range and those shootings are causing all sorts of concerns. The city is tryign to figure out of new regulations or oversight is needed, but for now are asking for individuals to help.
The Wall Street Journal provides a graphic and background:
Millions of Americans visit gun ranges every year for target practice, and suicides at ranges are rare. But they do happen. Ranges in Florida, Arizona, Wyoming, Virginia and Maryland, as well as at least two others in Michigan, have reported incidents over the past 12 months.
The story gives vitally important perspective:
At greatest risk for potential suicide, gun dealers and law-enforcement authorities say, are first-time renters who walk into a store alone without their own firearms.
Cathy Barber, director of a suicide-prevention campaign at the Injury Control Research Center at the Harvard School of Public Health, studied incidents in New Hampshire and found that about 8% of gun-related suicides there came soon after someone had bought or rented a gun at a range. She and others in the state worked to put gun retailers together with suicide-prevention advocates to distribute literature at gun stores. Maryland is using that same approach, and similar efforts are under way in Tennessee, Colorado and Missouri.
“It’s not our job to analyze people, but we can help spread the word,” said Ralph Demicco, owner of Riley’s Sport Shop in Hooksett, N.H.
Covering Guns 
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