US military panel recommends gun control for troops to prevent suicides

A Pentagon advisory panel has recommended imposing gun control measures on troops in the US military to make it harder for them to kill themselves.

The suicide prevention committee was formed by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in March last year to help address spiraling suicide rates in the US military As the Pentagon.  

The panel recommended that soldiers under age 25 should be banned from purchasing guns on US military bases, while all others would face a seven-day waiting period to complete their firearm purchases.

The committee also suggested the creation of a database to track guns bought on US military property, which would require repealing legislation passed by Congress in 2013 to prohibit such tactics, as well as a waiting period on ammunition sales.

“When we look at the science of suicide prevention, there's arguably only one thing that all researchers agree on,” said panel member Craig Bryan, a safety expert at Ohio State University. “And that one thing is that taking steps to slow down convenient access to highly lethal methods like firearms is the single-most effective strategy for saving lives.”

However, such restrictions would put the US military in the position of hindering the constitutional gun rights of its own service members, who exist apparently to defend American freedoms.

The Pentagon and Congress will determine whether to implement any or all of the panel’s recommendations.

The Pentagon said it has “taken note” of the report and will use it to enhance its current approach to suicide prevention. “Secretary Austin has emphasized that the department’s most valuable resource is its people and that they will spare no effort in working to prevent suicide and save lives.”

Suicides among active-duty US troops rose 44% between 2015 and 2020, spiking to 384, even as the military adopted special training and intervention measures.

Nearly 17 US military veterans kill themselves each day, on average, according to the Veterans Administration. A comprehensive study however has revealed that American military veterans are committing suicide at a much higher rate than the US government reported.

US Army suicides continues to surge

The number of suicides in the US Army, the military’s largest branch, continued to increase in 2021, newly released Pentagon data shows, registering 176 cases.

An average of 24 former service members are taking their own lives every day, 37 percent more than what has been reported by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), according to a study by America’s War Partnership (AWP) conducted jointly with the University of Alabama and Duke University.

In addition, 20 veterans, on average, are dying each day by “self-injury mortality,” such as drug overdose.

Suicide has been described as a national health crisis in the United States, with more than 45,000 Americans taking their own lives each year.

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