Interesting New York Times piece this morning about a budding strategy in Washington to help abet military suicides by focusing on private weapons, which are used in about half of the cases. Removing prescription drugs is also a potential tactic.
“[As] suicides continue to rise this year, senior Defense Department officials are developing a suicide prevention campaign that will encourage friends and families of potentially suicidal service members to safely store or voluntarily remove personal firearms from their homes.
” “This is not about authoritarian regulation,” said Dr. Jonathan Woodson, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. “It is about the spouse understanding warning signs and, if there are firearms in the home, responsibly separating the individual at risk from the firearm.” “
There is also legislation pending in Congress to amend an earlier law that is seen as preventing military officials from discussing weapons with troops.