Ryan Freel Commits Suicide: REPORTS

[rightsideout]

15. With a gun in the house you are 7 times more likely to be a gunshot victim

I heard the stat is 5 or 7 but it's definitely increased if you have a gun.

I know this from a personal tragedy. My best friend in elementary and jr high took his own life with a gun his father kept in the house for protection.

I knew they had a gun and thought it would eventually be trouble because my friend's parents were strict disciplinarians. I met him while walking home from detention after elementary school. He cried the whole way home because his parents were going to beat him when they found out. During the years I knew him he was either on restriction or punished for little things other parents wouldn't punish a kid over. He was even spanked for something I did at their house. It was insane. He came to school with black and blue marks from his mother grabbing his arms. My parents even told his parents to chill out.

His family moved away in high school so we lost touch. I hadn't seen him in a couple years. One day he came by the house out of the blue for a visit. The passenger window in his car was smashed in. He said he had an altercation with another driver. Two weeks later I found out he had shot himself. At the funeral his father told me the lesson to learn from this was to stay out of trouble. I felt like slugging him in the face. My dad was so angry about it he refused to go to the funeral. We never heard the real details as to what happened and what he was really upset about. All I heard he was found in the house with gunshot wound to the head and it was self inflicted. He died a couple days later.