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Experts at Essex County forum push secure storage, suicide-focused prevention
Summary
A Rutgers researcher and gun-safety advocates told an Essex County panel that firearm suicides account for a majority of gun deaths and urged the county to promote secure-storage programs, messaging and voluntary off-site storage options to reduce deaths.
At a public forum convened by an Essex County ad hoc committee on gun violence, Mike Anestas, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers, told commissioners that firearm suicides make up a large share of the nation's gun deaths and require targeted prevention.
"Fifty-five percent of all suicide deaths in the United States come from self-inflicted gunshot wounds," Anestas said, adding that firearms used in suicide attempts result in death about 90% of the time. He told the committee that when a firearm is present in the home it raises the risk of suicide for everyone in that household by roughly three to five times.
The researcher outlined three practical interventions: one-on-one lethal-means counseling (his team’s Project Safeguard), broad public-health messaging modeled on anti-drunk-driving campaigns, and measures to make it easier for people in crisis to store firearms temporarily outside the home. He noted a New Jersey State Firearm Storage Map and recent ATF guidance enabling retailers to offer lockers that do not trigger a transfer-based background check when used properly.
Peg Zitko and Lorraine Lombardi of Moms Demand Action urged the county to amplify secure-storage messaging through official county websites and social channels, ask the sheriff and municipal police to promote the Be SMART program, send a letter to Essex mayors, explore a county PSA and offer Be SMART presentations for school superintendents. "We would like you to post our Be Smart Secure Storage information on all Essex County commission websites and social media," Zitko said.
Panelists and commissioners discussed policy options. Anestas advised prioritizing interventions that can reach firearms already in homes (because many firearms used in suicides have been in a home for 10 years or more) and recommended combining individual counseling and community-level education. Commissioners said they would review the requests and consider communications and budget follow-up.
The panel did not vote on new laws at the meeting; advocates asked the county to amplify public information and explore funding for community outreach in the county’s forthcoming budget reviews.
