----- Forwarded Message -----
From: John McMillan
To: District 4
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2020, 11:25:24 AM CDT
Subject: 4-24-20 Urgent Need for weekly&monthly reports to media on Suicide Attempt stats/Actual Suicide stats for entire city, county, state, entire nation
April 24, 2020
Dear Very Distinguished and Influential City of Austin officials, Travis County officials, State of Texas officials, and U.S. Government officials and Civic and Cultural Leaders,
As founder and the only current approved member of the politely-non-Christian and public-safety-minded as well as drinking-alcohol-free, anti-tobacco, anti-marijuana, anti-illicit-drugs-minded "Progressive Prohibitionist Religion", I would like urge our city, county, state, and federal governments to establish a tradition during this COVID-19 crisis period of each week and each month compiling and publicizing both attempted-suicide statistics and actual suicide statistics for our entire city, county, state, and nation, respectively. That weekly and monthly warning from each and every level of government, including our regional governments, can help to warn as many Americans as possible about the increased risk of firearms-related suicides during this nationwide and global pandemic.
I also feel very strongly that a very concerned State of the Union televised address by our current Chief of State, U.S. President Donald Trump, can help to save hundreds or thousands of lives if Mr. Trump urges all Americans, no matter how severe their current financial problems or medical problems or anxieties and fears about COVID-19 may be, to remain optimistic and strive to pursue a healthy lifestyle, including a dietary lifestyle that is good for their medical health.
In his televised State of the Union address, President Trump should also ask all Americans to make sure that any and all guns they own --- if they own a gun---are kept stored at all times in a fully locked closet or fully-locked display case inside their home, and that only one or two designated members of that household, each of them adult members of that household, have access to that key.
Below is a plea I wrote and posted today at nextdoor.com for the benefit of other residents of north Austin in this state capital city for Texas:
"PLEASE CALL 911 AND ASK AN AUSTIN POLICE OFFICER TO DO A POLITE WELFARE CHECK (WELL-BEING CHECK) ON ANYONE YOU KNOW OF DURING THIS COVID-19 CRISIS WHO MIGHT HAVE ACCESS TO A GUN AND MIGHT POSSIBLY BE AT RISK OF ATTEMPTING TO COMMIT SUICIDE
"Below are two noteworthy paragraphs from the April 22, 2020, online article entitled 'Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Firearms in the United States: Will an Epidemic of Suicide Follow?' The article was written by Rebekah Mannix, MD, MPH; Lois K. Lee, MD, MPH; and Eric W. Fleegler, MD, MPH.
"The article is published online in the authoritative weekly professional medical journal 'Annals of Internal Medicine' (registered trademark name):
"Since February 2020, as U.S. public health efforts have focused on containing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), gun sales in the country have skyrocketed. In March, more than 2.5 million firearms were sold, including 1.5 million handguns. In the best of times, increased gun ownership is associated with a heightened risk for firearm-related suicide. These are not the best of times. The United States faces an unprecedented combination of a public health and economic disaster. The physical distancing necessary to curb transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has disrupted social networks. Many people live in isolation, and the mental health of the population will likely suffer. Combined, these forces create a climate with the potential to increase firearm-related suicides...."
'"The heightened gun sales (nationwide) in March 2020 represent an 85% increase compared with March 2019. These are the highest firearm sales ever recorded in the United States. Persons who purchase handguns have a 22-fold higher rate of firearm-related suicide within the first year than those who did not purchase a handgun. Among men, for every 10 percentage points increase in household firearm ownership rates at the state level, there is an increase in firearm suicides of 3.1 per 100 000 persons. Decreased gun restrictions and increased access to firearms are associated with higher firearm-related suicide. On the individual level, the presence of a firearm in a home is associated with a 2- to 10-times greater risk for suicide than in a home without a firearm. This risk applies to all household members, not just the gun owner, and persists for years after the purchase of the firearms."
The online link to the above-quoted article:
https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2765237/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-firearms-united-states-epidemic-suicide
I hope this public-policy-minded letter is helpful to each of you government officials and other civic leaders and cultural leaders.
Sincerely and Best Wishes,
John Kevin McMillan.
Home address ever since June 21, 2019:
Pebble Creek Apartments (a large and gated-community apartment complex reportedly owned by a for-profit corporation with a mailing address in Beverly Hills, California), 8805 North Plaza Drive, Apt. 2418, Austin, TX 78753.
Home phone: (512) 342-2295.
Cell phone: (512) 993-7305.
e-mail: mcmillanj@att.net
Blog: John Kevin McMillan: A 21st Century Conservative Left-Wing Agenda
ry Conservative Left-Wing Agenda
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Facebook: "John McMillan", middle name "Kevin", current dues-paying individual member of the Dallas-based Texas Tenants Union, the Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota Alumni Association, the USTA, AARP, and the Berkeley-based Americans for Non-Smokers' Rights.
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