

Sen. Missy Irvin, a foe of gun safety laws, allowed Moms Demand Action to speak before a joint legislative committee yesterday, but she came loaded with questions — did the group lobby, did it disclose spending, did it have gun safety outreach beyond legislative activity and, this was most notable, asked about why they mentioned youth suicide.

Irvin called it “bizarre” and “interesting” that a speaker mentioned statistics about youth suicide in a discussion of school safety. The response was that red flag laws — allowing judicial intervention on gun access for dangerous people — could have a positive effect on school shooting incidents and also on suicide rate.

Research suggests safe storage laws can prevent access to guns for improper or accidental use (common senses, seems like). Last year, it was reported that 19 young people are killed or injured daily by firearms, nearly 40 percent in suicides.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the most comprehensive study of firearm injuries and deaths among children, found that from 2007 to 2014, there was a 60% increase in kids aged 10 to 17 committing suicide with a firearm.

You want bizarre? Missy Irvin suggested that efforts to address youth suicide with gun safety laws were “targeting of rural Arkansas, rural America.” Which reminds me of a past episode about Irvin family gun philosophy.


She flatly declared opposition to a red flag law, the Democrat-Gazette reported, the only gun safety measure that seems to have drawn any interest among Republican lawmakers.

Moms Demand Action mustered about 30 for the hearing.