Enlisting gun shops in suicide prevention in New Hampshire

Background: Following a spate of suicides in NH involving very recently-purchased firearms, a committee of gun dealers and suicide prevention professionals met to determine the extent of the problem, develop prevention materials aimed at dealers and their customers, and assess dealers' interest in using the materials.

Methods: Data on source of firearms used in all 144 NH firearm suicides over a 2-year period were extracted from medical examiner data. Also, all storefront retailers in NH were identified (n=63) and asked to provide feedback on draft materials and complete a survey on suicide prevention. 59% agreed and to date 23 in-person interviews have been entered.

Results: About 1 in 10 of NH's 144 firearms suicides involved a gun purchased the same week. Dealers were very willing to use a tip sheet on avoiding sales to suicidal customers (87%), display a suicide hotline number (83%) and a flyer for customers (75%), and learn more about suicide prevention (87%). Few had policies on sales to potentially suicidal customers, and most did not distribute firearm safety information. While 57% thought a suicidal person would be safer without gun access, 70% said if a gun is unavailable, the person is as likely to die using some other method.

Conclusions: Gun dealers are receptive to using suicide prevention materials but ambivalent about whether removing access to firearms will save a suicidal person's life. Results are informing a 2011 campaign geared to NH gun shops on both recent-purchase suicides and suicides involving existing household guns.