In Gettysburg for Gun Sense studies over the years, we have learned that more than half of all gun deaths in the US are gun suicides. And eighty-seven percent of those who die from gun suicide are men, with the highest risk belonging to men who are seventy and older. Like everyone, members of GGS worry about gun deaths among inner-city youth and among women who die in intimate partner violence. But rural men over seventy are the group at highest risk of gun death and gun suicide. There are12 gun suicides per 100,000 residents of rural counties, as compared to 6 gun suicides per hundred thousand who live in large metro areas. Adams County coroner numbers reflect this risk, showing 9 suicides so far in 2026, with five of those carried out by firearm. So it is especially important that we observe Suicide Prevention Awareness here.
It is good news that our county is home to so many responsible Adams County hunters, who store their firearms safely. Every year members of Gettysburg for Gun Sense meet several of them, as we staff our table of materials at the Adams County Heritage Festival. After ten years of this work, we have come to recognize the most common-sense gun owners in America. These are men who look at our materials, zone in on the safe gun storage handout, read it, and then tell us to keep handing out this information. They know that some people don’t store guns safely, even though they always do. Storing firearms locked and unloaded, with ammunition stored separately, saves many lives. It protects against firearms theft, and against suicides as well. Even the gun owner is protected, since the five minutes it takes to unlock the firearm, then unlock the ammunition, and then place a bullet into the firearm, is long enough to give time to reconsider to someone in the throes of sudden despair. Less often, but equally tragic, we all feel the pain of families who have lost a child because someone didn’t store their firearm safely. It doesn’t take long to save a life.
At the annual Adams County Heritage Festival GGS gives away gun locks that we have received for free from the Veterans Administration. This is one of a number of suicide prevention initiatives now carried out nationwide by the VA. Both veteran and law enforcement groups share suicide prevention methods and information, because they represent groups at high risk of gun suicide. Legislation pending in many statehouses, including Pennsylvania, can also save lives. Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) legislation saves lives by allowing family members or police to temporarily remove firearms from the possession of someone who is a danger to others, or more often to himself. Under ERPO legislation, firearms can only be removed with the approval of a judge. In November, do vote for legislators who support gun sense. And store firearms safely all year.
