More than half of gun-related deaths in the U.S. are suicides. But James Russell, a biology professor at Georgia Gwinnett College, says that most people do not want to accept how common it is. "People that haven't been through this just want to bury their head in the sand," Russell says. "They don't want to hear it."
Russell's father took his own life when Russell was 15. He died two days after he turned a gun on himself, which gave Russell time to see and talk to his dad one last time. Russell recalls seeing him in the hospital bed, holding his hand, and his father speaking to James one last time. "He said you don't understand. And then after a pause, he said it was an accident."
