New Proposal Would Allow State Residents With Suicidal Thoughts to Add Their Name to a "Do Not Sell" Gun List

Thursday, September 11th, 2025 -- 11:00 AM

(Anya Van Wagtendonk, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsinites struggling with suicidal thoughts could add themselves to a “do not sell” list that would prevent them from purchasing firearms, under a Democratic proposal circulating in the state Legislature.

According to Anya Van Wagtendonk with the Wisconsin Public Radio, the idea, said lead author Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, is to allow people to voluntarily give up access to an instrument that could make suicide attempts more fatal.

“They can put themselves on a list to say, ‘I do not want to be allowed to buy a gun. Please do not sell me a gun, because it isn’t safe for me to have them, and I’m worried that I might hurt myself,’” Roys said.

Statistics show that suicide attempts are far more deadly when a person uses a gun compared to other methods. According to research from Johns Hopkins University, suicide attempts without a gun are rarely fatal, but when a person uses a gun, the attempts are almost always fatal.

The list would function like a voluntary ban from casinos that people with gambling addiction can add themselves to in some states. In this case, a person who knows they experience suicidal feelings could register to be barred from buying a gun for a certain period of time.

Depending on the length of time, a person could eventually apply to be removed from the database, following a waiting period. Their presence on the list would come up during a background check.

Similar programs exist in Utah, Virginia and Washington state. Roys said the late Jonathan Brostoff, a former state lawmaker and Milwaukee alder who died by suicide in November, was top of mind when she drafted the proposal.

Brostoff had spoken openly about his struggles with depression. Serving on a suicide prevention task force while he was in the state Assembly, Brostoff called for strategies that would address the link between access to guns and increased rates of suicide.

“He said that when he was at his lowest points, he was so glad he didn’t have access to a gun, because if he did, he felt like he wouldn’t have survived,” Roys said. “And obviously, when he did have access to a gun, he didn’t survive.”

Brostoff’s death inspired other gun-related proposals from Democrats. In his January State of the State address, Gov. Tony Evers called for the reinstatement of a mandatory waiting period for gun purchases.

Republican leaders at the time rejected that proposal out of hand, with Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, calling it a “cheap political stunt.” But Brostoff was not the first Wisconsin lawmaker to die by suicide in recent years.

In 2016, Sen. Rick Gudex, R-Fond du Lac, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, some months before his term in office was due to end. And some Republicans have also led mental health efforts tied to guns.

Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, who chairs the Senate Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families, has championed bills creating a voluntary gun relinquishment program and exempting gun safes from the state sales tax.

In Wisconsin in 2023, more than 500 people died by suicide using a firearm. That marks a drop from pandemic-era highs, but suicide rates have climbed in the last two decades overall.

Men who live in rural areas and veterans are at increased risk of dying by suicide, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

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