A 911 call and concerned employees prevented Andrew Stern from killing himself at AimHi, a New Albany shooting range, in April, but it didn't stop him from trying again.

A 911 call and concerned employees prevented Andrew Stern from killing himself at AimHi, a New Albany shooting range, in April, but it didn�t stop him from trying again.

Stern, who had recently filed for divorce from nationally known model Katie Cleary, took his own life at a shooting range in California in June.

The 911 call warned New Albany police that the 40-year-old Stern had threatened to commit suicide on April 17 by either shooting himself at a gun range or poisoning himself with carbon monoxide. He was turned away from AimHi, and authorities were able to take him to a hospital after meeting with him at his parents� home in New Albany.

Stern�s death and other high-profile cases have brought the issue of suicides at shooting ranges into the national spotlight. Although such deaths are uncommon, they happen frequently enough that some ranges have stopped renting guns, forgoing profits to err on the side of caution.

There have been three cases of self-inflicted shootings at gun ranges in Franklin County since 2008, all of them at AimHi.

The most recent was on Sept 19, 2011, when a 26-year-old Clinton County man shot himself in the head after renting a gun. A 24-year-old woman committed suicide there after taking a safety course and renting a handgun in 2010, and another woman killed herself in the parking lot after buying a gun at the range in 2008.

In Delaware County, a man committed suicide at the now-closed Powder Room target range in Powell in 2011.

AimHi President Claire Marvin said there has not been an incident of self-harm at that range since increased safety measures were put into place. He declined to elaborate out of concern that someone might try to evade those measures.

Even mental-health experts agree that it�s often difficult to detect the intentions of someone considering suicide. Renting a gun does not require the background check that comes with purchasing one, and even if other policies are in place, preventing every tragedy is nearly impossible, said Ken Hanson, legislative director of the Buckeye Firearms Association.

�If they showed any visible signs, that would be one thing, but that�s not what�s happening,� Hanson said. �They come in, watch safety videos, sign forms. � I don�t see a way to predict this behavior.�

Hanson said the vast majority of gun-range patrons are there to practice or have fun, not to hurt themselves or anyone else.

�These ranges have lanes that are full all day,� he said. �The number of people actually doing this is very small.�

Despite the comparatively low rate of suicide at gun ranges, most of central Ohio�s shooting ranges do have some form of protocol to protect their customers from both accidents and intentional harm.

L.E.P.D. Firearms & Range in Columbus has a strict policy against renting a gun to someone who is unaccompanied by at least one other person. Although the facility has not seen any suicide attempts, range officer Brad Brown acknowledged that there is no foolproof way to prevent tragedy.

�It�s always a concern,� Brown said. �We have a lot of people who want to come in and rent a gun with nobody with them, and we have to turn them away.

�We have to stay on our toes, because it could even happen with two people there. You just never know.�

Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts can contact a 24-hour suicide-prevention hot line at 614-221-5445 or 1-800-273-8255.