On Friday, I attended the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit gubernatorial debate.
A debate question went something like this:
“Utah consistently ranks in the top-3 in the nation for youth suicide, and suicide is the leading cause of death for youth in our state. What would you do to fight this trend?”
Several LEADING candidates responded.
Not a SINGLE one mentioned guns.
Of course they couldn’t, they are all Republicans.
This is the problem with dogmatic partisan politics.
It pulls governing away from a discussion of facts in favor of ideological purity.
Let’s look at the FACTS around suicide:
Guns were used in 50% of attempted suicides in Utah. The next closest method is suffocation (25%). But guns are 86% effective, whereas suffocation is only successful 44% of the time.
People who commit suicide are not pre-destined to kill themselves.
There is a tight coupling between a low moment and an easy method (e.g., guns).
There is both logic and ample evidence to support this perspective. For example, the suicide rate dropped significantly when the UK switched from coal gas (an easy way to kill yourself) to natural gas (not).
So if we want to be serious about suicide and data-driven in finding solutions, we need to include guns as part of the conversation.
And we need to end extreme partisan politics that limits our ability to really solve problems.