Firearm Suicide Is a Community Problem. Let’s Talk About It.
"A look at firearm suicide in Pennsylvania, featuring survivor perspectives, new research, and upcoming opportunities to learn and engage."
Save the Date: April 10 at 12 PM
Craig J. Bryan, PsyD, ABPP
One year after releasing The Missing Conversation, our groundbreaking report on firearm suicide in Pennsylvania, we’re hosting a live Beyond the Headlines webinar with Dr. Craig J. Bryan, a nationally recognized suicide prevention researcher and author of Rethinking Suicide. His work is changing how suicide prevention is taught, practiced, and understood. Free registration details are coming soon!
Community Highlight
Stories and efforts addressing firearm suicide in their communities.
What Alex’s Family Wants Us to Understand
Alex Umble was a son, a brother, a lacrosse player, and coach, and someone his family remembers as kind and quick to make others laugh. In this video, his mom, Maura, and his sister, Bridget, share who Alex was and how quickly a moment of crisis became permanent when he was able to buy a gun online, pick it up from a local store, and use it the next day. They speak about why they believe families need a way to create time and distance during moments of crisis, and why they chose to share Alex’s story.
Do you know of a local person, group, or effort in your community that others might find interesting to learn about? We’d love to feature them! Submit a nomination here.
Call to Action for Firearm Suicide Loss Survivors
If you’ve lost someone to firearm suicide, we’re asking you to help move this work forward.
The Rural Reflections Network (RRN) is bringing survivor voices together to guide a new phase of work focused on changing how suicide prevention trainings are developed and provided, how media covers firearm suicide, and how communities across Pennsylvania understand and respond to this issue.
Join now to be part of this effort.
Continuing the Conversation Nationally
Jay Breneman meets with experts and presents at national events
Dr. Breneman was in Tempe, Arizona in November for the National Research Conference on Firearm-Related Harms, where he presented a poster on The Missing Conversation and connected with colleagues in the Stoneleigh Fellowship working across research and practice. In December, he was in Washington, DC for the 11th National Gun Violence Prevention Summit at the Center for American Progress, serving as a panelist on preventing firearm suicide, and later joined researchers and prevention leaders at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions for the Safer States Initiative luncheon to exchange lessons from policy, research, and community-based work.
Launching New Research
We’re launching a new research project through the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government Capstone Program. Anthony Trombetta, an MPA candidate at Penn, will work with us over the coming months to examine The Full Cost of Firearm Suicide in Pennsylvania.
This project looks beyond what’s typically counted to ask a harder question: what do firearm suicides actually cost families, first responders, schools, workplaces, and local governments? By focusing on Pennsylvania specifically, it captures local financial burdens that national data often misses.
We’ll share updates as the work develops and highlight key findings when the final report is completed later this year!
What We’re Reading
Stories and research shaping how we understand firearm suicide.
Sex Differences in Trends of Firearm Suicide Among Older Adults, 2014 to 2023 — New research finds a rising share of suicides among older women now involve firearms, a trend that parallels recent shifts in gun ownership demographics.
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin: Sheriff’s Office Suicide — An analysis of suicide risk among deputy sheriffs and why it remains underreported.
It’s OK to Not Always Be Gritty — A story on farming culture, stress, and why open conversations and support matter in rural communities.