I promised myself after my wife’s suicide with a handgun almost two years ago that I would continue to remind the public about the urgency of deadly weapons and how morally wrong it is to allow the easy purchase of firearms that are ultimately used in suicides, homicides, and accidental death. My wife, depressed and in chronic pain for many years despite treatment, bought a handgun in a quick purchase here in downtown Thomasville, hid it overnight, and shot herself in our shower the next morning while I was out walking. I dare not describe the scene when I found her about thirty minutes after she pulled the trigger. A few days ago in Maine a mentally incompetent man with an AR-15 killed 18 citizens and injured 13. This was the 36th mass shooting in our country this year.

These acts leave families forever scarred and needing professional mental help themselves, something that is not easy to obtain or afford. Fortunately, I did have counseling, which helped me through the aftermath. The ultimate help, of course, must come from the laws we live by, but which still offer nothing to slow the selling, buying, and use of these tools of death.

After my wife shot herself, I asked our local delegation of House and Senate members to help curb these tragedies, but they did nothing. I’m 79 and baffled by the reasons people give for wanting guns in their homes, an obsessive behavior that itself begs for treatment. Spend your money on your family’s needs or a charity, but not on the thrill of firing off a magazine of deadly projectiles.

Grant Plymel

Thomasville