Undaunted by discussing hot topics, the Woodland Park branch of Braver Angels is hitting the mark these days. In a county where the Second Amendment is sacred, the angels bravely tackled the subject of guns last week.

There was no populist agenda, no dog-whistle slogans, during the discussion among the small group gathered at the Woodland Park library. Instead, the people started out by listening to the statistics on gun violence, mass shootings, attitudes about guns and the differences between Republicans and Democrats on gun ownership.

Jim Rix, a regular at the meetings, provided the power point presentation on statistics gathered by the Pew Research Center. For instance, 40% of Americans live in a household with a firearm while 32% say they own a gun.

The main reason Americans own guns is for protection, hunting or collecting, Rix added.

There was general agreement that background checks before purchasing a gun are a good thing.

In 2021, 54% of all gun-related deaths in the United States were suicides, 26, 328, while a year later, 26,993 people died by suicide in the U.S.

The second-highest group to die by suicide are those 75-84 while the first highest are those 85 and up. One member of the group spoke of an elderly relative who died by suicide.

“We should all be disturbed by this statistic,” Holly Sample said.

Compared with rates in 2021, the suicide rates increased for those age 35 and older and decreased for those age 34 and below.

“Fifty-five percent of suicides are by gun,” Rix said.

The number of U.S. veterans who died by suicide is not included in the statistics, Rix said.

“Veteran suicides have skyrocketed in the last 10 years,” he said.

The states with the highest gun suicides rates in 2021 include Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

“This is an inconvenient truth; in those big states there are lots of suicide issues,” Rix said.

Asked to raise their hands if they someone close to them had died by suicide, most did.

In the search for solutions, the group agreed that mental illness is a key issue in gun violence and the least addressed. Perhaps if more students were educated about guns, it might make a difference in the number of mass shootings, said Carl Andersen, as Billie Donegan added, “Fifty years ago, gun safety was taught in classrooms.”

Gail Gerig took issue with why anybody would need to own an assault rifle while Andersen defended his right to own one.

In 2023, there were 656 mass shootings and 40 mass murders.

“Half of the 36 deadliest shootings occurred in the last decade,” Rix said. “Eighty percent of the shooters were in a noticeable crisis prior to the shooting.”

On the issue of guns, the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently declared firearm violence a public health crisis.

“The focus is on prevention and gun safety,” Rix said. “There are 300 million guns in this country.”

A congenial group, this month’s Braver Angels reflected the meaning behind the discussions in partnership with the Woodland Park library.

Next up is a discussion on foreign policy on Aug 27.