If you need help, go get help. Hurting yourself isn't the answer

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you want to hurt yourself, just go get help. Call someone. The national Suicide Prevention Hotline is 24/7 1-800-273-8255

Last week someone I occasionally work with took their own life. I had seen him a few days before and he was acting his normal self. In fact things were slow and we had a really good conversation. Never in a million years would I have thought it would be our last conversation, and if it were, not under these circumstances.

What could have possibly changed within 5 days? I can’t understand, but just go get help.

This was on my mind, so figured if it helps anyone it’s worth the half minute it took to share.

I’m not broken up by this. No condolences to me are needed. I feel terrible for his wife and child however.

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Thank you for sharing that, @AlphaKoncepts. This time of year is especially hard on a lot of people.

The Suicide Prevention Lifeline also has a chat function incase someone prefers to type instead of talk. They have other resources on their website as well:

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There may have been factors you did/do not know about.

I lost my brother to suicide 30 years ago this December. We had talked and made plans for Christmas Eve on December 21st. He didn’t show up which was odd but not enough to worry over. I found him on the 29th (less than 24 hours after he pulled the trigger) in his apartment.

From what we could put together he had picked up his prescription meds on the 22nd but had failed to take any of them. He did not seem depressed when we made plans and there really were no indicators any one in the family noticed (and we tried to paid attention).

My point is you can not predict what is going on in someone else’s head even if you are close to them and looking for indicators.

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There is a machismo and a stigma, but there is also a legitimate fear in the gun community. A fear of losing your rights if you seek help, even for something minor. Well, things don’t fix themselves and only get worse.

I don’t think that was the case, in this case, I really don’t know what dafuq happened. But I do know the fear is true for many gun owners.

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Bingo! Alpha. I honestly think that
A) Asymmetrical warfare
B) Losing your rights if you do seek help

Is behind why we are having such a high rate of veteran’s committing suicide. Asymmetrical warfare is a completely next level type of stressor and because you automatically lose your 2a rights forever if you get committed even for a 3 day hold, veteran’s are just trying to sack up and handle it themselves. There has to be some moderation/exceptions in place, where someone returning from service can ask for that sort of help

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Forget the exemptions. Why bother? It’s the same with red flags.

Tell me how taking away the guns of an individual intent on doing harm to themselves or another makes them any less dangerous to themselves or another. If you want them to not do harm, you have to remove the intent. There shall always be a means.

It’s a sick social experiment. Let’s take away this dangerous person’s guns, but leave them in society, and see what happens.

The laws need to be changed, because the fear of losing your rights is real and thus people wont seek help. Suicides with firearms are nearly double homicides with firearms.

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I agree with you, completely. I hate red flag laws, I think there needs to be a way to ask for help without losing your 2a rights forever.

To me it seems far more sane to realize you are fighting a battle you are losing and to ask for help than it does to try and handle it yourself and lose. It just seems extraordinarily punitive to take away someone’s rights for asking for help.

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