((PKG)) GUNS & SUICIDE
((TRT: 7:52))
((Banner: A Way of Life))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C.)
((Main character: 1 female))
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
I haven't looked at these pictures forever. This is Scott, the day that
we bought our first home. This is our first home in Tampa, Florida.
Here's a picture from our wedding. Three or four years we knew
each other before we got married. He died the week before our tenth
anniversary.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
He did attempt with pills and alcohol and it was not successful. My
husband did have a handgun that he liked to use for target shooting.
After his first suicide attempt, I did hide the gun.
I knew it was not safe for him. A couple of months later though, he
was doing a lot better. He was getting a lot of help. He was
improving and we were going to our family's vacation home in North
Carolina and that's where he'd like to shoot at targets.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
So, he asked me for the gun back. I didn't want to give it to him, but
he said he just wanted to feel normal and I understood that. I wanted
to feel normal. I wanted everything to be back to normal. So, I
returned his gun to him. He went to the mountains and shot at some
milk jugs and after that, I lost track of it. Truly, life was up and down
and there was a lot going on. He had good days and bad days and I
completely forgot about it.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
On the day that he died, I was at work. And he called me to say
goodbye. And I raced home and found the closet just torn apart. And
I knew as soon as I saw the chaos in the closet, I remembered the
gun. He was in his car and the police approached him and tried to
talk him out of it. They talked to him for quite a while, but ultimately
he ended his life surrounded by police who were trying to help him.
((NATS))
Right there??
Right there, yeah.
And what kind of gun was this?
((Jim Curry, Retired Episopal Bishop))
This was a .22 rifle and it was part of a buyback in New Haven,
Connecticut. We invite people to turn their guns in and working with
the police, we get them destroyed and then we make them into tools.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
It was a really therapeutic experience to take this hammer and beat it
into an instrument that will create life.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
I came to Washington, DC from Jenkin Town, Pennsylvania, to attend
the national vigil for all victims of gun violence.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
It was an opportunity to gather together with survivors of gun violence
loss. There were children as young as six months old. There were
adults. So, as we watched these people come one by one, it just
reinforced how broad and deep this epidemic of gun violence is.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Julia Spoor, Jennifer Lugar’s Daughter))
I was robbed of my childhood on September 25, 2009 when my father
took his own life.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
My 18 year old daughter, Julia, was seven when her father died of
gun suicide.
((NATS))
((Julia Spoor, Jennifer Lugar’s Daughter))
I miss my dad.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
And it's really hard for me to hear her express her grief and her loss.
I so admire her for doing it and I think she's changing hearts and
minds and I completely encourage her to keep doing it but it's rough
for me to listen to.
((NATS/MUSIC))
My friends, the vigil has ended and the work begins. Let us be
people of power and honor with action.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
So, it's time to be together to express our grief and express our
appreciation for our loved ones. And then, it's also a time to talk
about how we can make change so other families don't have to go
through what we have.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
The next day, we hit the streets. We went to Capitol Hill and did a
press conference.
((NATS))
Seven years ago, I lost my seven year old brother, Daniel, in the
Sandy Hook school shooting. My life is changed forever.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
At the press conference, there were survivors of domestic violence, of
street violence, of suicide, of mass school shootings. The common
thread between all of those is that easy access to a gun turns an
impulse into a tragedy.
((NATS))
Darien Richardson, age 25.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
I want red flag laws in every state. Right now, we've got 17 states.
This law would allow a concerned family member or law enforcement
to temporarily remove a gun from somebody who is in crisis.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
My husband, Scott Spoor, was 43.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
If that red flag law had existed, I would have taken advantage of it.
And then months later, when my husband hit a low point again, there
wouldn't have been a gun in the house. It's that simple.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
Guns are a totally different type of a tool when it comes to suicide
because they are so much more lethal. There's no comparison to
other less lethal method. This isn't just about my family. 22,000
Americans die every year of gun suicide including 1,000 children.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
I think a lot of people feel overwhelmed and powerless but when you
do start to get involved, you see that individuals can have a say in
things.
((NATS))
((Banner:
Next time on:
Americans and Guns))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((SOT))
Where the gun debate bothers me, as a hunter, is when we are
teaching people that guns are dangerous or that guns are something
that you should fear to the extent that becomes the way our culture
thinks instead of teaching them to respect them and to teach them
how to lawfully use them.
((TRT: 7:52))
((Banner: A Way of Life))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C.)
((Main character: 1 female))
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
I haven't looked at these pictures forever. This is Scott, the day that
we bought our first home. This is our first home in Tampa, Florida.
Here's a picture from our wedding. Three or four years we knew
each other before we got married. He died the week before our tenth
anniversary.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
He did attempt with pills and alcohol and it was not successful. My
husband did have a handgun that he liked to use for target shooting.
After his first suicide attempt, I did hide the gun.
I knew it was not safe for him. A couple of months later though, he
was doing a lot better. He was getting a lot of help. He was
improving and we were going to our family's vacation home in North
Carolina and that's where he'd like to shoot at targets.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
So, he asked me for the gun back. I didn't want to give it to him, but
he said he just wanted to feel normal and I understood that. I wanted
to feel normal. I wanted everything to be back to normal. So, I
returned his gun to him. He went to the mountains and shot at some
milk jugs and after that, I lost track of it. Truly, life was up and down
and there was a lot going on. He had good days and bad days and I
completely forgot about it.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
On the day that he died, I was at work. And he called me to say
goodbye. And I raced home and found the closet just torn apart. And
I knew as soon as I saw the chaos in the closet, I remembered the
gun. He was in his car and the police approached him and tried to
talk him out of it. They talked to him for quite a while, but ultimately
he ended his life surrounded by police who were trying to help him.
((NATS))
Right there??
Right there, yeah.
And what kind of gun was this?
((Jim Curry, Retired Episopal Bishop))
This was a .22 rifle and it was part of a buyback in New Haven,
Connecticut. We invite people to turn their guns in and working with
the police, we get them destroyed and then we make them into tools.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
It was a really therapeutic experience to take this hammer and beat it
into an instrument that will create life.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
I came to Washington, DC from Jenkin Town, Pennsylvania, to attend
the national vigil for all victims of gun violence.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
It was an opportunity to gather together with survivors of gun violence
loss. There were children as young as six months old. There were
adults. So, as we watched these people come one by one, it just
reinforced how broad and deep this epidemic of gun violence is.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Julia Spoor, Jennifer Lugar’s Daughter))
I was robbed of my childhood on September 25, 2009 when my father
took his own life.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
My 18 year old daughter, Julia, was seven when her father died of
gun suicide.
((NATS))
((Julia Spoor, Jennifer Lugar’s Daughter))
I miss my dad.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
And it's really hard for me to hear her express her grief and her loss.
I so admire her for doing it and I think she's changing hearts and
minds and I completely encourage her to keep doing it but it's rough
for me to listen to.
((NATS/MUSIC))
My friends, the vigil has ended and the work begins. Let us be
people of power and honor with action.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
So, it's time to be together to express our grief and express our
appreciation for our loved ones. And then, it's also a time to talk
about how we can make change so other families don't have to go
through what we have.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
The next day, we hit the streets. We went to Capitol Hill and did a
press conference.
((NATS))
Seven years ago, I lost my seven year old brother, Daniel, in the
Sandy Hook school shooting. My life is changed forever.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
At the press conference, there were survivors of domestic violence, of
street violence, of suicide, of mass school shootings. The common
thread between all of those is that easy access to a gun turns an
impulse into a tragedy.
((NATS))
Darien Richardson, age 25.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
I want red flag laws in every state. Right now, we've got 17 states.
This law would allow a concerned family member or law enforcement
to temporarily remove a gun from somebody who is in crisis.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
My husband, Scott Spoor, was 43.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
If that red flag law had existed, I would have taken advantage of it.
And then months later, when my husband hit a low point again, there
wouldn't have been a gun in the house. It's that simple.
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
Guns are a totally different type of a tool when it comes to suicide
because they are so much more lethal. There's no comparison to
other less lethal method. This isn't just about my family. 22,000
Americans die every year of gun suicide including 1,000 children.
((NATS))
((Jennifer Lugar, Survivor of Gun Suicide Loss))
I think a lot of people feel overwhelmed and powerless but when you
do start to get involved, you see that individuals can have a say in
things.
((NATS))
((Banner:
Next time on:
Americans and Guns))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((SOT))
Where the gun debate bothers me, as a hunter, is when we are
teaching people that guns are dangerous or that guns are something
that you should fear to the extent that becomes the way our culture
thinks instead of teaching them to respect them and to teach them
how to lawfully use them.
