I can’t help but try to understand the position so many of our elected officials have taken in opposition to funding mental health in general and the endowment to support a 988 hotline in particular. Both initiatives help those with mental health issues and individuals contemplating suicide.

All of these elected officials hold themselves out to be strong supporters of the Second Amendment. After each and every new example of mass gun violence, and after extending their thoughts and prayers to the suffering families, these self-proclaimed Second Amendment supporters are quick to say it is a mental health problem, not a gun problem. Oh, really.

Senate President Ogden Driskill was spot on when he characterized the revival of the gun-free zones bill as absolute insanity. What is just as insane is these elected officials most opposed to funding the 988 suicide crisis hotline and the expansion of Medicaid also hold themselves out to be strong Second Amendment supporters. These same elected officials opposed to Medicaid expansion and the 988 hotline are also the strongest opponents of gun-free zones in schools, public buildings and private businesses as well as red flag laws.

Medicaid expansion would provide mental services to those who otherwise would be unable to afford treatment. The full funding of the 988 suicide hotline would provide much-needed help, and help proven to be successful, to those contemplating suicide.

Are these elected officials practicing calculated, opportunistic hypocrisy, or simple cluelessness? For years, Wyoming has been ranked first nationally in the per-capita rate of suicide. Some 75% of Wyoming suicides involve guns, and suicide attempts with guns, as opposed to other means of suicide, are nearly always fatal.

Suicide is a problem with a significant mental health component. Yet, when these same elected officials have the opportunity to fund an endowment to support a 988 suicide hotline for individuals suffering from mental health issues or have the opportunity to expand Medicaid, which would increase availability of mental health services, these Second Amendment advocates head for the financial hills.

Maybe these elected officials have somehow gotten the impression treatment for mental health is free. 

Gov. Mark Gordon, to his credit, has held high-profile suicide prevention forums in communities across the state. Unfortunately, when he could have thrown the considerable weight of his office behind full funding for the 988 hotline endowment, he went MIA. When it comes to supporting the expansion of Medicaid, the governor is also MIA.

It’s time to call out these elected officials who continually proffer their unwavering support for the Second Amendment for what are really anti-Second Amendment positions. 

As we all know, there are a myriad of calls from blue-state elected officials for gun regulations that go well beyond what the vast majority of Wyoming citizens would find acceptable. By failing to back up their views claiming suicides and gun violence are mental health issues with meaningful actions such as fully funding the endowment for the 988 hotline and Medicaid expansion, these same elected officials are playing into the hands of those advocating broader, anti-Second Amendment solutions to these problems. 

We don’t have to look any further than some current proposals in Colorado to see how this might play out in the future. It is time for these elected officials, including Gov. Gordon, to go beyond talking the talk and begin walking the walk.

Kim Love is former owner and general manager of Sheridan Media and retired host of the talk show, Public Pulse.

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