In the last four months, three men have walked into gun ranges in Naples, rented handguns and shot themselves. The most recent one happened late Monday afternoon, when a 28-year-old man rented a handgun at The Alamo Gun Range in Naples and used it to kill himself.

Although suicides at gun ranges represent less than 1 percent of firearm-related suicides in Florida, experts say most can be prevented. A national suicide prevention organization and a firearm trade group teamed up three years ago to do just that.

From 2018:Cape Coral man dies of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at Shoot Center

Yet none of the four owners of 12 Florida gun ranges contacted by The News-Press uses the free materials or training provided by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which developed the program with the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Neither do any of the four Southwest Florida gun ranges where there have been five suicides in the last 20 months.

Using media and police reports, The News-Press counted 34 suicides or attempted suicides at Florida gun ranges in the last decade. Fowler Firearms & Gun Range in Fort Myers was the site of two of those, one in 2012 and the other in 2017.

Store manager John Dezendorf said he sees no need for suicide prevention materials or training in his shop. He said his employees’ own judgment suffices.

“We don’t hire children. We hire grownups. We hire guys who are very responsible," he said. "I generally hire guys who are retired, guys who have been in the military, the school district. Your entire business will ride on the people you have working for you.”

That opinion is common among many gun range owners, said Alecs Dean, owner of Firearm Forensics & Consulting LLC who has trained range safety officers at Florida gun ranges.

Although he has never approached Fowler Firearms about a suicide prevention program, Dean said he has tried to persuade nearly 50 ranges and range safety officers in Florida to display the National Shooting Sports Foundation posters or use their educational materials for suicide prevention training. None, to his knowledge, has done so.

“It doesn't cost you anything to do, it saves you money and bad publicity, it can go a long way to prevent a potential lawsuit," Dean said. "And, ultimately, it's been shown to be fairly successful in having a tremendous reduction — if not completely preventing — the events from occurring in the first place. So where's the downside?"

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34 cases in a decade

The News-Press data show 34 self-inflicted suicide attempts at Florida gun ranges since April 2009. Thirty of the 34 were fatal. In four instances, information about the victim was not available.

Most of the suicides followed a similar pattern: A person, often a white male who doesn’t own a firearm, comes to a range unaccompanied and rents a gun for target shooting. The data compiled by The News-Press showed that:

Only three of the 34 incidents involved women, one of whom shot herself after first shooting her son at the range.

In only one case was it confirmed that the gun was not rented at the gun range. In 21 cases, it was confirmed to have been rented, and in the other 12 cases, there was no information available.

In five instances, the victim came into the gun range with family or friends. In 19 cases, the victim was alone.

In the 16 cases in which the race could be confirmed, the victim was white.

The number of gun range suicides tallied by The News-Press is likely an under-count. The industry is largely self-regulated, and no one keeps such statistics, nationally or in Florida, the state with the second-highest number of licensed firearms dealers, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

For suicides in general, 47,173 people died nationwide in 2017, including 3,227 in Florida, according to the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just over half (50.6%) of those suicides involved a firearm. Suicides account for roughly two-thirds of the nation’s gun deaths.

Because of the role guns have in suicide deaths, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has made reaching out to the firearms community a major piece of its “Project 2025,” which aims to reduce such deaths by 20 percent by the year 2025.

According to the CDC, suicide rates were significantly higher in 2017 compared to 1999. The rate of suicide increased 1% per year from 1999 through 2006 and 2% per year from 2006 through 2017, the National Center for Health Statistics reported. From 1999 to 2017, the suicide rate in the U.S. increased from 10.5 per 100,000 population to 14.0.

Florida owners slow to adopt prevention measures

Suicide prevention materials have been sent to all 12,000 members of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which includes gun ranges, in the past few years. But The News-Press failed to find a single gun range in Florida that uses or displays them.

The organization has partnered with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention since 2016 to provide educational materials which include brochures that encourage people to have “a brave conversation” with gun owners who may be suicidal, training materials for firearms retailers dealing with the aftermath of a suicide and suicide prevention videos.

Gun shop owners across the country are slowly starting to embrace suicide prevention and education for their customers, said Doreen Marshall of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

“This is actually an extension of all the other work they do to make sure that the firearms that are rented or used at their establishment are used in a safe way,” Marshall said. “They don't want to become an establishment where this is known to happen, both from a business perspective and a PR perspective, but also from a safety perspective.”

Armed in America:Why these people in Southwest Florida carry guns

Yet when The News-Press asked to interview a gun range owner who was using the suicide prevention materials, a spokeswoman for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention didn’t have one in Florida and instead referred to a chapter of the organization in Omaha, Nebraska.

Those in the firearms business may be suspicious of any effort that casts guns in a negative light, said Bill Brassard of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

“Gun owners and ranges are always wary about the motivation behind a sensitive topic like suicide,” Brassard said. “It’s not about adding restrictions or taking away anyone’s firearms. It’s about prevention and helping people understand that suicide is preventable.”

Some Florida gun ranges have implemented their own suicide prevention measures.

Shoot Straight, which has eight locations in Florida, changed its policies after experiencing at least eight self-inflicted shootings in the last decade, according to data compiled by The News-Press. Owner Khaled Akkawi said the number may actually be as high as 10.

About five years ago, following seven suicides between 2009 and 2014, the company banned all gun rentals at its stores but later resumed rentals with restrictions. Customers now must show that they already own a gun or have a concealed carry permit, or they must arrive with someone who does in order to rent a gun.

This way, Akkawi said, they know the customers aren’t just coming to the store to get access to firearms.

“Knock on wood, we haven’t had one in a few years now," he said. It used to be "one every year or every other year, unfortunately.”

A 19-year-old man killed himself at a Shoot Straight in 2017 in Pinellas Park after the new restrictions were imposed, but he had convinced a man he had met earlier that day to accompany him to the range.

Other Florida gun range owners have restricted rentals to those over 21.

Fowler Firearms & Gun Range in Fort Myers, which has had two suicides since 2012, requires gun renters to be 21 or older and to review a safety form.

Shoot Center, a gun range in Cape Coral, was the site of a suicide death last year. That case involved a 23-year-old man who had never been to the store before. After lingering on the sales floor for a few hours, he rented a gun, fired off a half dozen rounds and then ended his life.

The store’s operator, Aaron Forum, keeps the target used — as well as a shell casing and a bullet fragment from the incident — in his private office. He said it’s a reminder that the store needs to remain vigilant.

Shoot Center also requires would-be shooters to prove that they already own one or more firearms.

“That’s a screening that’s far more effective than the subjective nature of a 19-year-old staff member trying to determine if someone has mental health problems,” Forum said. “We’re not mental health professionals, and we can’t train our staff to be mental health professionals.”

Rob Marcum, the owner of The Alamo in Naples, was interviewed in June, two months after the suicide death of a 27-year-old man, but before Monday's second suicide at the range. He declined to comment but said the death left him shaken.

“I’ve been completely sick about it,” Marcum said at the time. “I don’t even want to be in the business anymore.”

Recognizing when someone needs help

It doesn’t always take a mental health professional to recognize when someone may be in distress.

Two days after Christmas 2016, Gustavo Sirit walked into a Doral indoor shooting range three miles from his home, rented a pistol and minutes later shot himself in front of a half dozen others customers including an 11-year-old boy.

The 33-year-old died from his injuries the next day.

A group of men smoking in the parking lot before going into the range had watched Sirit heading inside. He passed them saying nothing, but his demeanor left a lasting impression.

“It was the blank stare in his eyes – have you ever seen someone dealing with stuff, staring into space? That’s what it looked like,” recalled Jose Marante. “It’s a shame the range didn’t pick up on it. I would have never let him in with that look.”

Marante was in the range when moments later the man killed himself.

But often it’s not obvious a person is in distress.

“It’s really hard to screen our customers’ mentality at the time they come in. Sometimes they’re good at masking it,” said Mick Ruff, the marketing director at the Omaha Gun Club in Omaha, Nebraska. That’s one of the reasons Ruff is on board with the suicide prevention program.

“Every gun range knows it’s a possibility it will happen,” Ruff said. “I would not be doing my job if I ignored the elephant in the room.”

Ruff had arranged for Martha Wells, a board member with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Nebraska, to provide suicide prevention training to employees. But a few weeks before the scheduled training, a customer shot himself at the range. Wells helped work with the staff afterward and handle media. Since then, Ruff’s staff have gone through the training and put signage throughout the range. They’ve learned to recognize the signs of a person who might be at risk of suicide. The training has “made it a little more difficult (for someone) to grab a gun and get on the range,” he said.

“But if you can save a life, even one life, it’s worth it.”

Follow these reporters on Twitter: @TellMel and @FrankGluck

WHERE TO GO FOR HELP

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: Guide for gun owners and sellersafsp.org/about-suicide/firearms-and-suicide-prevention/

National Shooting Sports Foundation: Suicide Prevention Tool Kit

https://www.nssf.org/safety/suicide-prevention-toolkit/

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention - Florida Chapters

Suicide prevention:Here's where you can find help in Florida