Another grim ranking for New Mexico, this time led by older white men

The Midweek by Marjorie Childress
Courtesy of NM In Depth

That New Mexico is among the states with the highest rates of firearm deaths is no secret. The state Department of Health calls gun-related deaths a public health emergency, noting that New Mexico is fifth in the nation for overall firearm mortality. Firearms were the second leading cause of death for children and teens in the state, between 2019 and 2023.

​So it wasn’t surprising to learn, from a reporter at the nonprofit newsroom The Trace, that New Mexico also has one of the nation’s highest rates of gun suicide among people over 70 — higher than in 45 other states. 

In an analysis for The Trace, produced in partnership with GQ magazine, journalist Aaron Mendelson examined Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2009 to 2023 and found that Americans 70 and older now have the highest suicide rates of any age group — and that the rate is growing. During that period, nearly 64,000 older Americans died by gun suicide. For men over 70, gun suicide killed more of them than car crashes. The numbers are particularly acute for white men, who died by gun suicide at more than three times the rate of Black and Latino men their age, and 19 times the rate of women. The problem is most severe in rural areas, and according to the story, it’s often hidden.  “Many isolated older Americans have no obituary, memorial, or funeral. For those who do, the cause of death often goes unmentioned,” Mendelson reported.

Researchers told The Trace there’s no single cause. Physical illness, chronic pain, social isolation, and the availability of firearms all play a role, and warning signs are often missed. Nearly three-quarters of people over 75 who died by gun suicide had health problems, and four in five had seen a doctor within three months of their death.

In New Mexico, the pattern follows the national trend. According to state-by-state data Mendelson sent to New Mexico In Depth in an email, the state’s highest rates are concentrated among older white men in rural counties such as Luna, Socorro, Sierra, and Otero — with Luna and Socorro ranking among the 10 worst counties in the nation for gun suicides among seniors.

At first, this felt discouraging — another bleak ranking in a state already familiar with grim statistics on poverty, crime, and public health. But Mendelson’s reporting also points toward a path for intervention. Dr. Emmy Betz, an emergency physician and suicide-prevention researcher at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, told The Trace that depression and suicidal thoughts in older adults are too often missed. She urges families to start frank, preventive conversations with aging relatives about relinquishing firearms — the same way they might talk about giving up the car keys.

It’s a simple but powerful idea: that prevention can begin not with policy or politics, but with conversation — one household, one relative, one gun at a time.

See Mendelson’s reporting here. 

NUMBER OF THE WEEK
21.8​

According to an analysis of CDC data provided by The Trace in an email, the gun suicide rate for seniors 70 and older in New Mexico between the  years 2009-2023 was 21.8 per 100,000. New Mexico was topped by just four other western states: Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming.