Depression and suicide are extremely difficult to handle. I know it all too well.

My uncle when I was but a child shot himself with a shot gun.

A close friend younger brother grabbed one of my friends hand guns and used it to end his life.

Once at work a man used a rope and hung himself from a cat walk. We were able to revive him out the brain had suffered too much damage ad too long without oxygen and he passed days later in the hospital.

Then in 2016 the year I was married. I was working away from home and we had a roommate who was in his 50's. He was an attorney, former Navy pilot. Loved hiking and photography.

Sitting outside together on the patio he said he had thoughts of taking his own life. How do you react when someone tells you this. It's hard to believe that someone would seriously consider that there is no hope. That they no longer want to live even when they are viewed as having a successful and full life. I thought it he was just depressed over a recent breakup. So I started focusing on how my wife and I could get them back together. Told him not to think about taking his life that too many people loved him, that he had too much live for.

He got back together with his girlfriend and I thought it was better. Then one afternoon I received a phone call. It was the sheriff. My roommate and friend Doug had gone to the park near our house. Got out of his truck pulled out his hand gun and took his life.

To focus on how a person killed themselves is misplaced. I know it's an easy article to write. It's a popular subject. Everyone is talking about gun control. Blaming someone else. Playing Monday quarterback about what other should have done. It's wrong because it takes away the attention to the root cause. Mental depression impacts so many more than most people realize.


Boston University reports Depression among adults in the United States tripled in the early 2020 months of the global coronavirus pandemic—jumping from 8.5 percent before the pandemic to a staggering 27.8 percent. New research from Boston University School of Public Health reveals that the elevated rate of depression has persisted into 2021, and even worsened, climbing to 32.8 percent and affecting 1 in every 3 American adults.

What is the common theme among suicide victims and mass shootings. It's not the gun but mental depression. Now how do we address it because we certainly have not done much in the past to cause positive change.

Yes, as a life time gun owner we have a responsibility to raise the age a person can buy a gun. We need to have a federal background check system. We need to do more that we are now. We also need to focus on mental health especially another individual's under 21.