MSNBC: Ed Schultz And Montel Williams On Veteran Suicide Prevention Bill

MSNBC

For the second time in five weeks, House lawmakers unanimously passed veterans mental health legislation designed to launch new community outreach efforts and recruit more psychiatrists to slow the nation’s estimated 22 veterans suicides each day.

And, for the second time in five weeks, supporters will have to wait and see when — or if — the Senate will move ahead on the measure.

House lawmakers called passage of the bill a critical need for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which estimates as many as 22 veterans a day commit suicide.

“Since we last passed this bill … 750 veterans have taken their lives,” said bill sponsor Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn. “We cannot wait another day. We cannot pass this problem forward.”

Last December, Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, single-handedly stalled a bill in the Senate, saying that it carries too hefty a price tag for authority that the Veterans Affairs Department could, in most cases, already exercise.  Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, tried to pass the bill by unanimous consent, but Mr. Coburn objected.

Veterans groups say the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act , which would require a report on successful veteran suicide prevention programs and allow the VA to pay incentives to hire psychiatrists, is desperately needed and must pass.

Last December, Mr. Coburn, who is retiring from the Senate, said the bill wouldn’t accomplish much new.

“I object, not because I don’t want to save suicides, but because I don’t think this bill will do the first thing to change what’s happening,” said Coburn.

Paul Rieckhoff, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said the that despite his reputation as a budget hawk, Mr. Coburn should have recognized that the $22 million cost of the bill is worth the lives it would have saved.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/15/tom-coburn-stalls-veterans-suicide-bill-senate/#ixzz3OoIvPCcv

New Research: States That Have The Highest And Lowest Rates Of Gun Death

Hawaii has the lowest rate of gun deaths in the United States, while the District of Columbia has the highest, according to new research.  That’s according to new research led by Bindu Kalesan, an assistant professor at Columbia University in New York City.  For the research, they examined all recorded gun deaths in the United States between 2000 and 2010.

Over the past decade, deaths from gun-related violence — including murders, suicides and unintentional shootings — varied widely across the United States, the study revealed. Hawaii’s rate was roughly three per 100,000 citizens. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the District of Columbia had the highest rate of gun deaths, with about 22 per 100,000 citizens.

Aside from geography, race/ethnicity also played a role in gun death rates. The national rate of gun deaths was twice as high among black people as it was among whites. The researchers noted, however, that the number of black people killed as a result of gun violence fell in seven states and the District of Columbia. Meanwhile, gun deaths involving white people fell in only four states.

Gun deaths among Hispanics also declined in four states, while gun deaths involving non-Hispanics increased in nine states, according to the study published online Sept. 18 in BMJ Open.

The study also found that gun-related deaths increased in both Florida and Massachusetts. In these states, there were more gun deaths among whites and non-Hispanics. These states also reported an increase in gun-related murder rates.

The researchers pointed out these trends do not seem to reflect gun-control efforts and law in individual states.

For example, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence ranked Massachusetts the third most restrictive state for firearm legislation in 2011.After Massachusetts passed a tough law restricting gun use in 1998, gun ownership rates dropped sharply, but violent crimes and murders increased. The influx of firearms from nearby states with weaker firearm laws could be to blame, the researchers suggested in a journal news release.

The study authors concluded that curbing gun violence may require reducing access to firearms and strengthening interstate border controls to prevent the transport of guns.

Aside from D.C., states with fewer gun-related deaths over the decade include: Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New York and North Carolina.

Across the United States, however, the number of gun-related murders and suicides did not change between 2000 and 2010. Nationally, deaths resulting from unintentional shootings dropped significantly, the study found.