On June 26, 2018, Donna Nathan killed herself in New Orleans with a gun that she had purchased earlier that morning. She ended a 30-year battle with bipolar disorder and depression. Nathan fought right up until the end. In her last six months, she admitted herself three times for inpatient psychiatric treatment because she wanted to address her suicidal thoughts and prior emotional suicide attempts.
Each time, she willingly accepted the limitations on liberty that come with a psychiatric hospitalization in exchange for safety and the prospect of improvement. What she could not limit, under Louisiana law, was her ability to quickly purchase a gun.
The gun debate is often framed as a battle between keeping liberty and saving lives. But there is a third way. Lives can be saved by enhancing liberty—by expanding the menu of firearm-related choices.
This third path can bring together both sides of the debate. It can bring down the national death toll from firearms, which was nearly 40,000 in 2018, including Nathan. More than 60% of those deaths were suicides, far more than the 35% from homicides.
If Gun License are Limited to minimal individuals, that can certainly cut down the number of suicides.
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Compiled by – MK (Editor)
