Most people who attempt suicide do not die—unless they use a gun. Across all suicide attempts without a gun, 4% result in death. But when a gun is involved, that figure skyrockets to 90%.²Andrew Conner, Deborah Azrael, and Matthew Miller, “Suicide Case-Fatality Rates in the United States, 2007 to 2014: A Nationwide Population-Based Study,” Annals of Internal Medicine 171, no. 2 (2019): 885–95, https://doi.org/10.7326/M19-1324. That second chance matters: the vast majority of people who survive a suicide attempt do not go on to die from a later attempt.³Robert Carroll, Chris Metcalfe, and David Gunnell, “Hospital Presenting Self-Harm and Risk of Fatal and Non-Fatal Repetition: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” PLOS ONE 9, no. 2 (February 28, 2014): e89944, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089944; David Owens, Judith Horrocks, and Allan House, “Fatal and Non-Fatal Repetition Of Self-Harm: Systematic Review,” British Journal of Psychiatry 181, no. 3 (2002): 193-99, https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.181.3.193. The research shows that the difference between living to see a better day or dying by suicide is often determined by the presence of a gun. Given the unique lethality of firearms as a means of suicide, addressing gun suicide is an essential element of any strategy to reduce gun violence in this country.