Firearm-Related Suicide and Violence Prevention
In Oregon, people may live in or visit a house with a firearm. Firearms can be part and parcel of rural culture, where they are used for hunting, protecting livestock and self-protection. Often the unintended consequences of readily accessible firearms are not discussed as communities face stressors inherent in agriculture, live in remote places where mental health services are sparse, and have an independent spirit that hinders asking for help. It is not difficult to find people in rural and Indigenous communities who have experienced the deep grief of firearm-related injury, suicide or violence in their family or community. Suicides make up 75% of all firearm deaths in Oregon, and more than half of all suicides in Oregon are by firearm. We all share a common goal: we want our family, friends and neighbors – and ourselves – to be safe and healthy.
Current Reports
January 2025
Extreme Risk Protection Orders Report
This report offers strategies to increase the use of Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) in Oregon as a tool to reduce the risk of suicide and self-harm in rural and remote communities. The most recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) data available show that 655 people died by a firearm in Oregon in 2022, which is 14.4 per 100,000 people. In 2022, the CDC also explains that the suicide rate overall in Oregon was 883, at 19.3 per 100,000 people. The suicide rate by firearm in rural and remote communities is particularly concerning and is dangerously high. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reviewed firearm deaths in Oregon and discovered that the three counties with the highest gun death rates from 2011-2020 were Harney County, Klamath County, and Josephine County. All three counties had a firearm death rate two times the state average. This same review showed that males were over seven times as likely to die by firearm than females, and 55% were suicides by firearm. In addition, white males over the age of 34 accounted for 23% of the population in Oregon in 2020, but 61% of all suicide decedents. The Oregon Secretary of State also raised awareness about this important issue when it found that the firearm suicide rate in Oregon is 42% higher than the national rate.
News & Highlights
Resources
Podcast Episode
Elizabeth Marino, PhD: Words Matter
Linguistic anthropologist Elizabeth Marino, PhD talks about the language barrier that exists between urban and rural communities in America and how it impacts philanthropists, who are traditionally based in urban wealth and power centers. Marino leads the Laboratory for The American Conversation at Oregon State University-Cascades.
Podcast Episode
Allison Myers, PhD: Building Communities for Health
Allison Myers, PhD leads the community health program at Oregon State University Extension based in Corvallis, but her work takes her across the state. Allison has a Masters in Public Health and a PhD in Health Behavior – and is passionate about serving people and bringing health knowledge to rural, underserved communities. This episode delves into mental health topics and suicide prevention. If you or someone you know are experiencing thoughts of suicide, call or text the national helpline at 988. Folks in agriculture or forestry who need help, can call the Agristress Helpline at 833-897-2474.
Strategies
- Support programs that work at the intersections of stress, trauma, mental health, and access to firearms – and are skilled in helping rural and Indigenous people and recognize cultural communities’ relationships with firearms – including lifelines, programs focusing on specific populations, and programs offering peer-to-peer support (e.g., youth, veterans, agricultural community, Indigenous and culturally-specific communities, and older people)
- Increase availability of and access to effective youth suicide and violence prevention services in rural and Indigenous communities by supporting training, creative staffing, programming and collaborative approaches among school personnel, youth programs, community healers, mental health providers, pediatricians and/or rural-placed graduate students
- Encourage training of first responders and medical and mental health providers so they can skillfully discuss firearms access, mental health, suicide, and effective strategies to secure firearms when there are concerns that someone is struggling
- Support firearm safety education programs for youth and new, prospective and current firearms owners that are delivered by trusted messengers in trusted places, train people to use secure storage tools, teach people about the prevalence of firearm-related injury and death in rural areas and steps to take if one is concerned about the safety of themselves or others, and help normalize talking about mental health, suicide and seeking help
- Partner with community collaboratives by providing flexible funding and matching funds to leverage mental health, suicide and violence prevention public and philanthropic dollars
- Support collaborative efforts – led by or meaningfully engaging rural people – to develop innovative public policies that authentically reflect rural and Indigenous experiences
- Identify strategies to reduce community violence
- Invest in research, development and dissemination of strategic communications that build bridges and are grounded in shared goals of safety, suicide prevention and averting violence
