The Department of Veterans Affairs is instrumental in reducing gun suicide among military veterans. With an average of 4,200 veterans dying by gun suicide every year, strong leadership in the Department of Veterans Affairs is more important than ever—and that starts with President Joe Biden naming Denis McDonough as Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Here are some things the Department of Veterans Affairs can do to address our nation’s gun violence crisis:
- Promote secure gun storage and intervention tools like Extreme Risk laws that temporarily remove firearms from people at risk of suicide.
- Address access to firearms as part of a comprehensive suicide prevention strategy through lethal-means counseling to assess whether a person at risk for suicide has access to a gun.
