One of the things I'm doing on this trip to Colorado is researching suicides in the Colorado National Monument. When I arrived in town yesterday, the main story was about a man who drove off a cliff in the Colorado National Monument.
His van caught a rock ledge 120 feet below the edge, which kept it from falling another 180 feet to the bottom of a canyon, which would've meant certain death.
This is the paranoid fear of flatlanders driving the road, but authorities believe the driver went over the cliff intentionally. Still, he was grateful to be saved.
It's a point often lost when gun proponents tangle with suicide prevention advocates and say, "if they didn't have guns, they'd just find another way."
Sometimes.
But this man stayed in the van and called 911.
Many attempts are the result of transient impulses. A suicide method that is ineffective or takes too long to carry out may result in a victim like this one, thanking his rescuers.
Guns don't leave the same margin for second acts.
Daily Sentinel photo. More here.
