Older Wyomingites die by gun suicide at rates higher than the rest of the nation

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, you can call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

This story was reported using data from The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub, a national nonprofit reporting project.

Wyoming’s lonely landscape, sparse access to mental health resources and widespread firearm access are all considered factors behind a suicide rate that for decades has topped most other states, leaving families and the state’s tightly knit communities to confront one loss after another.

After several years as the state with the worst suicide rate, Wyoming, beginning in 2022, gave up that ignominious distinction, though it has remained in the top three states.  

But a new data set places Wyoming above the other 49 states in a specific metric — the number of adults over 70 who kill themselves using firearms. 

From 2009 to 2023, 252 older Wyoming residents died by gun suicide, according to data compiled by The Trace, a national nonprofit media outlet focused on tracking firearms and gun violence in the U.S. That’s a rate of 29 suicides per 100,000 Wyoming residents over the age of 70. The majority of those deaths are of older white men, according to The Trace’s data.

All told, more men over the age of 70 in both Wyoming and nationally die from gun suicides than they do from car crashes, the news outlet found.

For Wyoming health officials, the numbers aren’t surprising. While the state no longer has the nation’s worst suicide rate, national rates tracked by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention are adjusted to account for some states having larger elderly populations. Called “age-adjusted” data, those ratings account for the fact that suicide risk is higher among adults 85 years old and up, in order to give a broader sense of whether a state carries an elevated suicide risk for reasons beyond just demographics.

According to Wyoming Department of Health data, suicides in the state are lower among people aged 70 to 80 than they are among some younger age groups. But the rate spikes to 72.13 per 1000,000 residents over the age of 85. 

While valuable, such numbers don’t capture the reverberating pain and trauma a suicide death at any age brings to family, friends and community, experts said. 

“Behind every data point is a person, a grieving family, a community that is impacted,” Wendy Morris, who conducts suicide prevention trainings for Healthy Park County, told WyoFile. 

“Unfortunately, suicide does not discriminate, so we don’t focus on a particular population,” Morris said, but experts know that older people carry particular risks. 

Morris works with senior centers, churches and civic organizations like Rotary clubs, whose members skew older, to raise awareness about signs of suicide risk and the best practices for prevention and intervention.

Older people who live alone, who recently lost a longtime partner, and who are confronting increasing physical debilitation or a mistaken perception of burdening relatives, are people who, Morris suggests, benefit from community and family support. Just lending an ear can have a meaningful impact, she said.

“A medical condition, a chronic pain, that rancher who is getting a little bit older and might feel not as confident, they might not be able to work the way they used to and maybe they don’t have the help and they don’t want to feel they’re a burden. We know that those are times when people can be vulnerable.” Morris said. “But if somebody was able to sit down at the kitchen table and have that conversation, it could very much change things.”

The Trace found particularly high rates of suicide by elderly people using a firearm in rural western states. Behind Wyoming came Nevada, with a rate of 25.7 suicides per 100,000 residents over 70, and then Montana, with a rate of 24.4. 

Within Wyoming, Carbon, Park, Fremont and Sweetwater counties carried the highest rates of suicide among elderly people. 

The Wyoming Department of Health publishes age-adjusted suicide rates by county. Under that age-adjusted ranking, which accounts for data from 2014-2023, Hot Springs County suffered from the worst suicide rate. 

Gov. Mark Gordon has made improving the state’s mental health services a goal of his second term in office. His administration has contracted with an expert in suicide prevention who has provided suicide intervention training in several counties. 

The Trace’s findings showed there is much more work to be done, Gordon said in a statement to WyoFile on Wednesday. He encouraged people who want to learn more about suicide prevention and help protect family and community from further losses to sign up for upcoming trainings online and around the state. 

“Simply put: our suicide rate is too high,” Gordon said. “While we have made progress through our collaborative community efforts to bring awareness and lower the number of deaths by suicide, there remains much to be done. I am grateful for the many volunteers — citizens from every walk of life — clergy, first responders, and professional wellness and healthcare providers — for working together. We all have a role to play — checking on one another and being ready to help.”

Guns a third rail 

Gordon’s statement did not mention firearms, which are used in the vast majority of Wyoming’s suicide deaths. From 2020 to 2024, firearms were the mechanism for 74% of the state’s suicides. Guns are the most lethal method of suicide, and according to an expert interviewed by The Trace, it can be particularly traumatizing for those who find a loved ones’ body.

But in such a gun-friendly state, reducing the number of firearms accessible to someone with suicidal intent hardly seems possible to advocates.

“I wouldn’t even have that conversation,” Morris said. “For me, the conversation is using safety around our firearms. It’s not about giving away guns, it’s about giving family and family members practical tools.” Those include gun locks and gun safes, which create a pause before someone can pull the trigger, or that people experiencing depression or suicidal thoughts give their guns to a family member or someone they trust for a time.

In Wyoming, as in other western states, some gun shops are offering safe storage — where a person can come in and store their gun, with no questions asked by the shop staff — according to a 2024 report by National Public Radio. 

But on the whole, advocates in the state say Wyoming will likely have to learn to reduce its suicide rate without lessening its firearm count. 

“Firearms are common, very common in Wyoming homes, and that’s a fact,” Morris said.

Advocates say call centers are a success

Wyoming in 2023 had the third-worst suicide rate overall among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., with 157 deaths. The state was behind Alaska and Montana — two rural states with which the Equality State has for years shared the ignominious distinction of being the top three worst states for suicide. From 2018 through 2021, Wyoming carried the worst suicide rate in the nation. 

In 2022, when Wyoming’s rate reduced enough that Montana and Alaska surpassed it, government officials and public health industry professionals celebrated the drop as a sign that new investments in prevention and increased public discussion of suicide were having an impact. That same year, the state had launched its 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, giving Wyomingites in crisis an easy-to-remember number to call. In its first year, the line received 4,000 calls, according to previous WyoFile reporting. 

“Every person in this state knows of someone who has committed suicide,” Jon Conrad, a former Uinta County lawmaker who brought unsuccessful legislation to create an investment account that would have funded the 988 line in perpetuity, said in an interview Tuesday. Conrad became involved in suicide prevention after a spate of deaths among trona miners in his part of the state, he told WyoFile. He has since held talks to large groups of miners, urging them to check on one another and keep an eye out for someone isolating themselves or showing other worrying signs.

“We communicate very, very clearly that suicide occurs regardless of age, gender, sex, etc.,” he said. “And that does include those older folks and helping elderly people recognize that I’m not a burden on my family and or society.” Doing so, he said, can help stop old people from leaving the burden of a violent death on their surviving loved ones. 

Conrad worried that funding to tackle Wyoming’s mental health problems, including its high suicide rate, would be in short supply with the conservative Wyoming Freedom Caucus controlling a voting majority in the House of Representatives. 

“While they’re in power, we will never get money to where it needs to be,” Conrad said. 

Like everything in the state’s budget for the coming two-year period, funding for 988 would face scrutiny by conservative lawmakers, House Appropriations Chairman John Bear, a Gillette Republican and Freedom Caucus leader, told WyoFile. But, he noted, the caucus has previously supported funding the hotline call centers — there are two in Wyoming — on a two-year basis. Conservatives have opposed shifting the 988 funding into an inviolate trust fund, Bear said. 

“We want to look at the data, if it’s working it’s an important part of the front-line defense against suicide,” said Bear, who’s recalled his son’s death by suicide in past legislative discussions on the subject. “We’re trying to look at everything and take a holistic approach to budgeting.”

Having call centers based in Wyoming allows for a better connection between the distressed caller and the worker who picks up the phone, Morris said. “It feels reassuring to [callers] that they’re not calling New York City or California,” she said. “It’s OK to ask for help, it’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength.” 

If you’ve lost an elderly loved one to suicide and are comfortable sharing your story to help WyoFile report on this complex Wyoming issue, please contact Andrew Graham at andrew@wyofile.com.