In rural areas, where people are far more likely to feel isolated, there’s a greater than average risk of someone experiencing depression. We’re social animals, and while I like to live like a recluse most of the time, even I need to interact with people on a semi-regular basis.
In the Mountain West region of the country, which includes states like Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, among others, that’s a real threat for people.
It’s especially true as people get older. They lose mobility, often find themselves unable to travel as freely as they could when they were younger, and they lose a lot of the friends they already have to a plethora of causes.
And, unsurprisingly, the Trace has apparently jumped on this to scream about the dangers of gun-related suicides among these folks.
This trend is particularly concerning among males over the age of 70 according to a study conducted by The Trace, a newsroom that investigates gun violence.
Aaron Mendelson, the news developer for The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub, said data compiled from the CDC shows gun suicide rates are the highest for white men.
“It’s a rate more than triple that of Black and Latino men of the same age. And 19 times higher than the rate of women 70 and older.”
Reasons range from terminal illnesses to financial worries. The availability of firearms is also a factor. But Mendelson said the common thread for older men is the stigma associated with reaching out for help with mental health.
Of course, The Trace isn’t a newsroom that investigates gun violence. It’s a “newsroom” that pushes anything that will advance gun control in all 50 states and at the federal level. Their finding some correlation isn’t about looking at data and going where it leads. It’s often them manipulating data and only reporting things that serve the overall mission.
I mean, they’re funded by anti-gun Michael Bloomberg, for crying out loud.
That said, there probably is something here, but it’s not a gun issue. It’s a mental health issue. As I said, these are states where some people live in pretty isolated circumstances. Many of the Mountain West states have pretty brutal winters, too, which just makes it even more likely that someone will experience some isolation.
Couple that with things like illnesses and financial woes, which can affect anyone in any state, and you’re likely to see some major issues come about.
And they can be addressed in a number of ways. In fact, they should be. We really need to sit down and think long and hard about how we treat our aging population, and I don’t say that because I’m a lot closer to being 70 than I want to talk about, either. I’ve got a while, but it’s a lot closer to me than my 20s are, too.
One thing I’ll give Mendelson credit for, though, is that he’s right about the stigma. Yes, I actually wrote a piece at our sister site, Townhall, about how it would be good to stigmatize some people once again, but understand that this is not who I was talking about there.
We need to be able to talk about what’s going on with us and not fear any kind of blowback from it. In fact, that’s one of many reasons I oppose red flag laws. The fear of losing one’s guns might keep them from getting the help they need.
That needs to end entirely.
I just wish The Trace were someone I could trust to bring this up because it’s an important issue and not because they’re part of an effort to demonize guns at every opportunity.
Editor’s Note: After more than 40 days of screwing Americans, a few Dems have finally caved. The Schumer Shutdown was never about principle—just inflicting pain for political points.
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