	At the federal level, there exists the Federal Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. This legislation has banned possession of handguns for anyone under the age of eighteen, making it difficult – but not impossible – for a teenager to obtain a gun for personal use. However, this is only viable if the firearms are purchased via legal means, and there are unfortunately many ways for anyone regardless of age to obtain a gun should they so choose. States with CAP laws in place have a markedly lower suicide rate than those that do not, and this combined with the federal handgun legislature have combined in order to significantly lower the suicide rate since 1981.

	Looking at firearm legislature overall and not just for youth protection, we see even more correlation between law and firearm suicide. While also not a federal law, many states have restrictions in place as to who can legally obtain a firearm: some require a mandatory waiting period before a gun’s purchase, some require a universal background check, and some both. 
Mandatory waiting periods remove the impulsivity from the equation, and as mentioned before, many men die by self-inflicted gunshot wound as an impulsive act during a particularly angry period. 
	Georgia, for instance, as of 2013 has no legislature concerning any sort of waiting period, background check requirement, or gun lock protocol. It is, however, an open carry state. Georgia’s 2013 suicide rate was 12.13, and its suicide by firearm percentage was a staggering 62%. New Jersey, on the other hand, currently has both a mandatory waiting period and a mandatory background check in place. They do not, however, have any gun lock laws on the books at present, and they are an open carry state. New Jersey’s suicide rate for 2013 was 8.51, and their suicide by firearm percentage is at a mere 26%. It is clear by comparing and contrasting these two states that there is a definitive correlation between a state’s handgun regulations and their firearm suicide rates. 
	Once a firearm enters into a household, the possibility for lasting damage to all involved parties increases significantly. 
 The mere presence of a firearm in a home creates an environment that has the potential to be catastrophic, and this is assuredly not a risk to take lightly. Lewiecki and Miller note that approximately 8,551 lives could have been saved between 1999 and 2004 if the same stringent rates utilized in the Northeastern United States – the most strict handgun region – were mirrored in all other regions of the United States to help decrease firearm-related suicides.
	
Lang’s point here is that there is an inextricable link between firearm ownership and suicide rate, but it is unclear whether more guns purchased leads to more suicides via firearm, or if there are more people wishing to die by firearm suicide, and therefore the gun purchase rate is going up. 
This is an important distinction to make, and should be something considered moving forward into the future of firearm and suicide legislation.
