Donna Nathan loved two-stepping and The Beatles. The radio was always on at her house.
That love of music easily translated to dancing in parades. Nathan and her daughter, Katrina Brees, even worked together at a studio making sculptures for Mardi Gras parades.
“She was the type of person that would find some sick animal outside and bring it in and nurse it back to health and find it a home,” Brees said.
But Nathan was suicidal. That meant three stays at a psychiatric hospital and working through medications and their various side effects. Nathan’s partner even quit his job to spend more time at home to support her.
But one day in 2018, Nathan searched the internet for a gun store near New Orleans. She bought a weapon and a box of ammo and killed herself.
“She did everything she could to keep her(self) safe,” Brees said. “But we live in a place where there’s gun stores open very close to us, and what she wasn’t able to do was to prevent herself from an impulsive gun purchase.”
Brees now dedicates her life to trying to stop gun suicides. She’s talking to lawmakers about passing Donna’s Law. It’s a voluntary self-exclusion from gun ownership. That idea is picking up some steam in both Kansas and Missouri. Neither state has passed its own version of the law, but it has been introduced in both state legislatures and is expected to come up again in 2025.
What is Donna’s Law?
Only four states have a Donna’s Law: Virginia, Washington, Delaware and Utah.
Kansas Rep. Jarrod Ousley, a Merriam Democrat, introduced a self-exclusion bill in 2023. Missouri Rep. Patty Lewis, a Kansas City Democrat, also introduced a similar bill.
In Kansas, people would apply in writing to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to be put on the list. Someone could also apply to the KBI in writing to get themselves off the list, and under the 2023 proposal, it would take 21 days before that person is again eligible to buy a gun.
Donna’s Law would not take away already purchased weapons.
The goal of the bill is to reach people in a moment of clarity and have them sign up for the list. That way, they couldn’t make any rash decisions when they are in crisis.
Ousley said a close friend lost someone to a gun suicide. He said that person would be alive today if Kansas had a voluntary exclusion list.
“If you can just buy time for somebody experiencing a crisis,” he said, “it can be life saving.”
Data behind gun suicides
Fredrick Vars, a University of Alabama professor, works with Brees to pass Donna’s Law. He said over 20 states are considering similar bills.
A suicidal crisis can last hours or days, but they pass. Vars said it’s important to keep guns out of these people’s hands because guns are deadlier. For example, 85% of attempted gun suicides end in death. Using pills only ends in death 5% of the time.
A 2005 study found that 24% of people who survived suicide attempts only spent five minutes thinking about the idea. And buying a gun also brings a 57-fold increase in suicide risk.
That’s why Vars wants to keep guns out of people’s hands.
“Literally putting time and distance between people and firearms when they’re in a suicidal crisis saves lives,” he said. “That’s just the bottom line.”
Opposition to Donna’s Law
Ousley, from Kansas, hasn’t heard any specific opposition to the bill, but he hasn’t had time to sit down with key lawmakers to discuss the idea. The bill is currently in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, and that committee’s chair changed after the 2022 election. He’s hoping that person spending more time with the committee will make it easier to get things moving.
Committee chair Rep. Will Carpenter, an El Dorado Republican, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Neither did House or Senate leadership.
Mark Oliva, managing director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation that lobbies in Kansas and Missouri, said his group opposes the bill because it creates a government list of gun owners.
“Those lists are going to be ripe for abuse,” he said.
Oliva pointed to a 2004 example when then-U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy was put on a no-fly list accidentally. There have also been lists of concealed-carry owners in other states that were released to the public. There could also be issues with people trying to get off the voluntary do-not-sell list and struggling to do so.
The release of a voluntary exclusion list could give criminals a guide to people who are unable to defend themselves with a gun, he said.
Though Oliva opposed the bill, he said there needs to be action to help reduce gun suicides. He said he’s worked alongside suicidal veterans and has even temporarily taken their weapons away until that person was in a better headspace. But he said part of the focus should be on educating retailers.
His group started a program called Brave Conversation with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. That program helps gun shops and gun ranges spot signs of suicidal ideation and direct them to help.
Oliva said that time and separation from lethal means are important when someone is suicidal. He just doesn’t want that to come with a government-run list because there are better alternatives.
“We don’t stand here and say that we have all the answers to suicide prevention,” Oliva said. “We certainly don’t. We think we do have one answer to one aspect of this that does work, and that’s why we partnered with suicide prevention experts to bring that answer forward.”
This story was originally published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
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