Posted on Mar 1, 2023
DOD should improve gun safety and take other “high-priority” steps to reduce service member suicides, independent panel says
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The Pentagon should improve gun safety on military property and take other “high-priority” steps to curb rising rates of service member suicides, according to a report issued late last month by an external review panel set up by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
The report, released Feb. 24 by the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC), recommended nearly 130 policy changes to improve safety across the service branches.
Recent DOD data showed that the rate of death by suicide among service members has ticked up since 2011. Even though the 2021 rate was lower than that recorded in the prior year, DOD said 519 active-duty, National Guard and reserve service members died by suicide, with younger enlisted men being most at risk.
DOD can reverse these trends by implementing the SPRIRC’s recommendations, many of which overlap with and add to reforms put forth previously by DOD, public health and clinical experts, according to the committee, led by Dr. Gayle Y. Iwamasa, national director of inpatient mental health services at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
“One conclusion of the SPRIRC,” the authors of the report wrote, “is that persistently elevated suicide rates in the DOD result in no small part to the DOD’s limited responsiveness to multiple recommendations that have been repeatedly raised by independent reviewers and its own experts.”
Gun safety measures merit DOD’s high-priority attention, panel argues
Although bound to be politically controversial, gun safety measures comprised about one-third of the 23 so-called high-priority recommendations — those “most likely to result in the largest reductions in suicide and have an overall benefit to service members and the DoD.”
Gun-related recommendations “are not strategies for gun control, but they are strategies focused on enhancing safety,” said committee member Dr. Craig Bryan, clinical psychologist and professor of psychiatry at Ohio State University, during a media roundtable discussion transcribed by DOD. They included:
• Repealing and replacing a law that prohibits the defense secretary from collecting or recording any information related to firearms or ammunition privately owned by a service member or DOD civilian employee.
• Standardizing DOD-approved firearm safety training so it covers topics such as suicide prevention, safe gun use and storage, and other best practices.
• Implementing a seven-day waiting period for any firearm purchased on DOD property.
• Implementing a four-day waiting period for ammunition purchases on DOD property after the purchase and receipt of a firearm bought on DOD property.
• Raising the minimum age to 25 years for purchasing firearms and ammunition on DOD property.
• Requiring anyone living on DOD property in military housing to register all privately owned firearms with the installation’s arming authority and to securely store all privately owned firearms in a locked safe or with another locking device.
• Establishing DOD policy restricting the possession and storage of privately owned firearms in military barracks and dormitories.
Given “that a significant percentage of on-base suicides involve firearms purchased on base at military exchanges,” Bryan added, “taking steps to slow down convenient access to highly lethal methods, like firearms, is the single most effective strategy for saving lives.”
Joining Iwamasa and Bryan in undertaking the comprehensive review of DOD suicide prevention programs were other experts in public and mental health, epidemiology, sexual assault, lethal means safety, service member and family support services, and civilian employment. Thousands of service members and their families and civilian and support service providers also offered insight.
Other recommendations
Grouped according to high, moderate and low priority, the recommendations were connected to the following four pillars of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention:
• Healthy and empowered individuals, families and communities.
• Clinical and community preventive services.
• Treatment and support services.
• Surveillance, research and evaluation.
They focused on restructuring suicide prevention training, providing additional resources to help service members access existing support services, promoting lethal means safety and emphasizing leader stewardship in addressing service member needs.
Other high-priority recommendations included addressing in training the risks of excessive alcohol use; centralizing responsibility for core suicide prevention activities common to all services; modernizing suicide prevention programs across the military career cycle; reducing delays in pay; and expediting the hiring of behavioral health professionals.
In a Feb. 24 news release, however, the Pentagon didn’t commit to implementing any specific policy change.
“The Department of Defense,” the statement said, “recognizes that suicide is a complex issue with no single cause or solution but is committed to promoting the well-being, health, and morale of their Total Force and preventing suicide within their ranks.”
Learn more
Read the full list of SPRIRC recommendations: https://rly.pt/3y37hpa
Read the DOD news release: https://rly.pt/3EN70L4
Read the media roundtable transcript: https://rly.pt/3KMOuWI
Read the latest DOD report on rates of death by suicide in the military: https://rly.pt/3J0Vhd9
The report, released Feb. 24 by the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC), recommended nearly 130 policy changes to improve safety across the service branches.
Recent DOD data showed that the rate of death by suicide among service members has ticked up since 2011. Even though the 2021 rate was lower than that recorded in the prior year, DOD said 519 active-duty, National Guard and reserve service members died by suicide, with younger enlisted men being most at risk.
DOD can reverse these trends by implementing the SPRIRC’s recommendations, many of which overlap with and add to reforms put forth previously by DOD, public health and clinical experts, according to the committee, led by Dr. Gayle Y. Iwamasa, national director of inpatient mental health services at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
“One conclusion of the SPRIRC,” the authors of the report wrote, “is that persistently elevated suicide rates in the DOD result in no small part to the DOD’s limited responsiveness to multiple recommendations that have been repeatedly raised by independent reviewers and its own experts.”
Gun safety measures merit DOD’s high-priority attention, panel argues
Although bound to be politically controversial, gun safety measures comprised about one-third of the 23 so-called high-priority recommendations — those “most likely to result in the largest reductions in suicide and have an overall benefit to service members and the DoD.”
Gun-related recommendations “are not strategies for gun control, but they are strategies focused on enhancing safety,” said committee member Dr. Craig Bryan, clinical psychologist and professor of psychiatry at Ohio State University, during a media roundtable discussion transcribed by DOD. They included:
• Repealing and replacing a law that prohibits the defense secretary from collecting or recording any information related to firearms or ammunition privately owned by a service member or DOD civilian employee.
• Standardizing DOD-approved firearm safety training so it covers topics such as suicide prevention, safe gun use and storage, and other best practices.
• Implementing a seven-day waiting period for any firearm purchased on DOD property.
• Implementing a four-day waiting period for ammunition purchases on DOD property after the purchase and receipt of a firearm bought on DOD property.
• Raising the minimum age to 25 years for purchasing firearms and ammunition on DOD property.
• Requiring anyone living on DOD property in military housing to register all privately owned firearms with the installation’s arming authority and to securely store all privately owned firearms in a locked safe or with another locking device.
• Establishing DOD policy restricting the possession and storage of privately owned firearms in military barracks and dormitories.
Given “that a significant percentage of on-base suicides involve firearms purchased on base at military exchanges,” Bryan added, “taking steps to slow down convenient access to highly lethal methods, like firearms, is the single most effective strategy for saving lives.”
Joining Iwamasa and Bryan in undertaking the comprehensive review of DOD suicide prevention programs were other experts in public and mental health, epidemiology, sexual assault, lethal means safety, service member and family support services, and civilian employment. Thousands of service members and their families and civilian and support service providers also offered insight.
Other recommendations
Grouped according to high, moderate and low priority, the recommendations were connected to the following four pillars of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention:
• Healthy and empowered individuals, families and communities.
• Clinical and community preventive services.
• Treatment and support services.
• Surveillance, research and evaluation.
They focused on restructuring suicide prevention training, providing additional resources to help service members access existing support services, promoting lethal means safety and emphasizing leader stewardship in addressing service member needs.
Other high-priority recommendations included addressing in training the risks of excessive alcohol use; centralizing responsibility for core suicide prevention activities common to all services; modernizing suicide prevention programs across the military career cycle; reducing delays in pay; and expediting the hiring of behavioral health professionals.
In a Feb. 24 news release, however, the Pentagon didn’t commit to implementing any specific policy change.
“The Department of Defense,” the statement said, “recognizes that suicide is a complex issue with no single cause or solution but is committed to promoting the well-being, health, and morale of their Total Force and preventing suicide within their ranks.”
Learn more
Read the full list of SPRIRC recommendations: https://rly.pt/3y37hpa
Read the DOD news release: https://rly.pt/3EN70L4
Read the media roundtable transcript: https://rly.pt/3KMOuWI
Read the latest DOD report on rates of death by suicide in the military: https://rly.pt/3J0Vhd9
Pentagon
Gun Control
Suicide
Resources
DoD
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 62
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Looks like gun control, walks like gun control, smells like gun control. It’s definitely a duck
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Rather than trampling on U.S. Citizens rights, how about addressing the real problem - mental health. Embrace and encourage service members and veterans to talk with a psychologist who can assist the service member/veteran in resolving the root causes and conditions that lead to suicide. Disarming those who fight for freedom?! Is this April Fools day? You can have my guns when you pry them from my cold dead hands.
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"Gun-related recommendations “are not strategies for gun control, but they are strategies focused on enhancing safety,” said committee member Dr. Craig Bryan, clinical psychologist and professor of psychiatry at Ohio State University, during a media roundtable discussion transcribed by DOD. They included:
• Repealing and replacing a law that prohibits the defense secretary from collecting or recording any information related to firearms or ammunition privately owned by a service member or DOD civilian employee.
• Standardizing DOD-approved firearm safety training so it covers topics such as suicide prevention, safe gun use and storage, and other best practices.
• Implementing a seven-day waiting period for any firearm purchased on DOD property.
• Implementing a four-day waiting period for ammunition purchases on DOD property after the purchase and receipt of a firearm bought on DOD property.
• Raising the minimum age to 25 years for purchasing firearms and ammunition on DOD property.
• Requiring anyone living on DOD property in military housing to register all privately owned firearms with the installation’s arming authority and to securely store all privately owned firearms in a locked safe or with another locking device.
• Establishing DOD policy restricting the possession and storage of privately owned firearms in military barracks and dormitories."
Odd how absolutely none of this addresses taking a hard look at the servicemember's leadership at all levels: the immediate, the platoon, company, battalion, etc.
---The first bullet scares the shit out of me to be honest. If I was the governor of my respective home state and openly called for a mustering of the militia I wouldn't want to know something like that. Small arms are small arms, and in order to effectively defend oneself and the state you'll probably need more than just small arms (and if you know your state constitutions I just gave a nice hint to where I was born and raised).
---Suicide prevention is already DoD-wide, and often repeated per year so often that no one cares for it anymore; and safe gun usage and storage is part of any class required to obtain a permit to carry. There's nothing to standardize.
---Implementing a waiting period for either weapons or ammo is a waste of time. There are always gun shops off base at any CONUS location. If someone intends to do harm they'll find a way.
---I'm ok with this only if we also raise the minimum age to join any military branch to 25 as well. Same for buying cigarettes and alcohol, and just being considered an adult at all. If that's not the case then they can shove that suggestion back where it came from.
---Requiring registration? That's already in place! Same with those safety measures. Now are they enforced? I have yet to have any MPs or PMOs knock on my door for random inspections. Oh yeah, that's a violation of other rights in the Bill of Rights! Without violating any further rights: good friggin luck enforcing this!
---See above statement. Barracks folks are some of the most resourceful people I've known. They find effective ways to keep ahold of their stuff. Unless we're going to treat everyone like a maximum security prisoner there's no legal way to effectively enforce such a policy.
• Repealing and replacing a law that prohibits the defense secretary from collecting or recording any information related to firearms or ammunition privately owned by a service member or DOD civilian employee.
• Standardizing DOD-approved firearm safety training so it covers topics such as suicide prevention, safe gun use and storage, and other best practices.
• Implementing a seven-day waiting period for any firearm purchased on DOD property.
• Implementing a four-day waiting period for ammunition purchases on DOD property after the purchase and receipt of a firearm bought on DOD property.
• Raising the minimum age to 25 years for purchasing firearms and ammunition on DOD property.
• Requiring anyone living on DOD property in military housing to register all privately owned firearms with the installation’s arming authority and to securely store all privately owned firearms in a locked safe or with another locking device.
• Establishing DOD policy restricting the possession and storage of privately owned firearms in military barracks and dormitories."
Odd how absolutely none of this addresses taking a hard look at the servicemember's leadership at all levels: the immediate, the platoon, company, battalion, etc.
---The first bullet scares the shit out of me to be honest. If I was the governor of my respective home state and openly called for a mustering of the militia I wouldn't want to know something like that. Small arms are small arms, and in order to effectively defend oneself and the state you'll probably need more than just small arms (and if you know your state constitutions I just gave a nice hint to where I was born and raised).
---Suicide prevention is already DoD-wide, and often repeated per year so often that no one cares for it anymore; and safe gun usage and storage is part of any class required to obtain a permit to carry. There's nothing to standardize.
---Implementing a waiting period for either weapons or ammo is a waste of time. There are always gun shops off base at any CONUS location. If someone intends to do harm they'll find a way.
---I'm ok with this only if we also raise the minimum age to join any military branch to 25 as well. Same for buying cigarettes and alcohol, and just being considered an adult at all. If that's not the case then they can shove that suggestion back where it came from.
---Requiring registration? That's already in place! Same with those safety measures. Now are they enforced? I have yet to have any MPs or PMOs knock on my door for random inspections. Oh yeah, that's a violation of other rights in the Bill of Rights! Without violating any further rights: good friggin luck enforcing this!
---See above statement. Barracks folks are some of the most resourceful people I've known. They find effective ways to keep ahold of their stuff. Unless we're going to treat everyone like a maximum security prisoner there's no legal way to effectively enforce such a policy.
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Ban the sale of weapons to 25 years old.. ? Round up these idiots are throw them in jail for twenty-five years.. These people had better start getting legal representation for their felony crimes. Tilte 18 Subsection 241 is great start..
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INHO, What's the difference? The Military has allways had Armory personnell and secure weapons storage anyway. If your on DOD property they decide anyway, and save for those of you who try to make every little thing political, I see no reason to oppose anything that saves fellow soldiers lives.
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PO2 David Ball
Then why have you served.. This is not about political but the removal of rights. Period.
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Let's put a safety on the gun and lock them up in vaults so that nobody hurts themselves. It's a mental attitude people. Guns are just a tool. You can kill with a tent stake or more likely die in a car crash.
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Although I am out of the Army now, and although the Second Amendment is nothing more than words codified in the Bill Of Rights . . . . to me, my God-given right to self-defense and self-preservation take absolute precedent over ANYTHING that anybody - especially the Government - wants me to do!
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Two problems with the headline, the article, and the report:
1) None of the recommendations have anything to do with gun safety
and
2) Gun safety has nothing to do with suicide
Safety -- any kind of safety -- is about preventing accidents, not about deliberate acts. Almost no one commits suicide accidentally (the only accidental suicide would be someone trying to fake a suicide attempt who dies my mistake).
1) None of the recommendations have anything to do with gun safety
and
2) Gun safety has nothing to do with suicide
Safety -- any kind of safety -- is about preventing accidents, not about deliberate acts. Almost no one commits suicide accidentally (the only accidental suicide would be someone trying to fake a suicide attempt who dies my mistake).
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When are we the People going to tell these so called experts to pack sand?
this report is not about preventing Suicide , it about disarming the American population, disarming those current & former service members who know how to use weapons and organize and lead men into combat, we are what they fear the most , took are oath of office very seriously, this is why they fear us.
by using a mental health crisis, as a excuse to disarm not only the veteran, but every American citizen , they hope to control the American population .
If they were serious about preventing and greatly reducing Suicide in the armed services & though out America, they would put more money, Resources and hospital beds for mental healthcare .
the City, State & Federal Gov would put more money in mental health care to help combat vets, service members, family members who are going though a Divorce, or suffering though a loss of a friend, or loved one , service members would be able to get help with Survivors Guilt, or healing from a very traumatic wound , remember not all wounds can be seen, many are mental
service members, family members would be able to get the help they need without fear of being label
the firearm, knife, box cutters, pills, jumping off tall bridges or BLDG, ETC, is not the cause of suicide it is just the tool that is used to end there life, There are many reason people who are suffering from mental illness use, there are many ways they can use to end there suffering, we need to let them know we are there to help them get the Professional Health Care they need.
outlawing the tool they use to end there life is like closing the barn door after the horses leave the barn , these service members need mental health care and we need to make it easer for them to find and get the help they need . WE NEED TO VOTE THEM ALL OUT OF OFFICE AND ELECT PERSONAL THAT WILL FIRE EVERY FACELESS Bureaucrat who playing politics with the service members lives .
it time to fire every single politician who is PLAYING POLITICS , with the service members lives in order TO PUSH a POLTICAL POLICYS AND AGENDA TO DISARM THE AMERICAN POPULATION !
this report is not about preventing Suicide , it about disarming the American population, disarming those current & former service members who know how to use weapons and organize and lead men into combat, we are what they fear the most , took are oath of office very seriously, this is why they fear us.
by using a mental health crisis, as a excuse to disarm not only the veteran, but every American citizen , they hope to control the American population .
If they were serious about preventing and greatly reducing Suicide in the armed services & though out America, they would put more money, Resources and hospital beds for mental healthcare .
the City, State & Federal Gov would put more money in mental health care to help combat vets, service members, family members who are going though a Divorce, or suffering though a loss of a friend, or loved one , service members would be able to get help with Survivors Guilt, or healing from a very traumatic wound , remember not all wounds can be seen, many are mental
service members, family members would be able to get the help they need without fear of being label
the firearm, knife, box cutters, pills, jumping off tall bridges or BLDG, ETC, is not the cause of suicide it is just the tool that is used to end there life, There are many reason people who are suffering from mental illness use, there are many ways they can use to end there suffering, we need to let them know we are there to help them get the Professional Health Care they need.
outlawing the tool they use to end there life is like closing the barn door after the horses leave the barn , these service members need mental health care and we need to make it easer for them to find and get the help they need . WE NEED TO VOTE THEM ALL OUT OF OFFICE AND ELECT PERSONAL THAT WILL FIRE EVERY FACELESS Bureaucrat who playing politics with the service members lives .
it time to fire every single politician who is PLAYING POLITICS , with the service members lives in order TO PUSH a POLTICAL POLICYS AND AGENDA TO DISARM THE AMERICAN POPULATION !
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Putting more restrictions doesn't stop the underlying issue. A service member who's at the lowest point of their lives is not going to care about any policies, they will find a way. These restrictions just take away what little freedom service members have left. No wonder recruiting numbers are abysmal.
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