---
title: "Teen Suicide and Guns"
slug: "teen-suicide-and-guns-1"
updated: 2025-03-05T09:48:59Z
published: 2025-03-05T09:48:59Z
canonical: "healthhub.cpcmg.net/teen-suicide-and-guns-1"
---

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# Teen Suicide and Guns

Protect your teenager

- Many teens attempt suicide on impulse, and there's no second chance with a gun.
- Counting on a teen's ability to resist strong emotional impulses when there is a gun is not a good idea.
- Young people need safe environments that protect them from deadly harm.

Many teens who attempt suicide do so because of a temporary problem, like the end of a romance. When guns are involved, teens can waste their lives and destroy the happiness of their friends and families in an instant. They are thinking of a passing problem, not the outcome!

## Teen suicide—a big problem

- Suicide is one of the 3 leading causes of death for 13- to 19-year-olds in the United States.
- An average of 4 American teenagers commit suicide every day.

### Does a gun in the home increase the chance of suicide? YES!

- In states where there are more guns, more people commit suicide.
- Studies have shown that the risk of suicide is 4 to 10 times higher in homes with guns than in those without.
- If the gun is a handgun or is stored loaded or unlocked, the risk of suicide is even higher.

### Does it matter how a person tries to commit suicide? YES!

- Suicide attempts with a gun are very likely to be deadly.
- Suicide attempts with drugs or methods other than guns have a greater chance of survival.

## Protect young people from killing themselves

Teens often see any change as a major life event. Adults and teens need to talk about things, like budding sexuality and taking responsibility for one's own actions, as they occur.

### It is best to not have any guns in homes where children or teenagers live.

If there is a gun:

- Keep it unloaded and locked up or with a trigger lock. Store the bullets in a different place that is also locked.
- Do not let teens have a key to the places where guns and bullets are stored.
- If a teen becomes depressed or has severe mood swings, store the gun outside the home for the time being.

### Many communities have laws that prevent teenagers from getting their own weapons.

Find out what the laws are in your community and ask that they be enforced.

**Most young survivors of a serious suicide attempt do not commit suicide later, and most survivors of suicide attempts are glad they were saved.**

## Disclaimer

The information contained in this publication should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

© 2006