Advertisement: “The 2020 firearm purchase surge does not guarantee a subsequent epidemic of suicide deaths, but it most definitely increases risk,” wrote authors Craig Bryan, a psychologist who directs trauma and suicide prevention programs at Ohio State University, and Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. Gun violence is one of the most pressing health crises in the country. In 2019, nearly 40,000 people died by firearms – the majority in suicides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Arizona’s gun death rate was about 27% higher than the national average in 2019, according to CDC data, with 1,136 deaths by firearms that year – 70% of them suicides. White people were far more likely to die of gun-related suicide in the state, while Black people and Native Americans were statistically overrepresented among homicide victims.