Thank you everyone for tuning back in. We're here today with Mrs. Dorothy Paugh, who's going to speak with us from her home in Maryland. I'm in my home in Maryland and I'll just note that we have had an extreme risk protection order law in place since October of 2018. We've had a bit of experience with implementing that law here in Maryland. But I'd like to talk with Dorothy for a moment about her work in getting that law passed and her experience with the law to date. Thank you very much Dorothy for being with us here today. Why did you decide to get involved in passing an ERPO law here in Maryland? I came to this issue in the worst possible way after losing my 25-year-old son, Peter, to suicide by gun. It wasn't the first time that I've had that experience, when I was just nine years old in 1965, my father in Aberdeen, Maryland also used a gun to end his life. Having had suicide shadow my lives twice, I just resolved now it's time for me to tackle the problem of suicide. I just read everything I could get my hands on about what works. What I kept coming back to was limiting access to firearms because it's far and away the most common and most lethal method that people use to end their lives. Unfortunately, there were a few who come back from an attempt when they choose a firearm as their method. What got me was when I read up a little bit about the laws, it seemed as if when people brought up the topic of suicide, someone who's threatening to end their own life, that people just said, "Oh, well, what are you going to do? If it isn't a gun, it'll be something else". But that's not what the research has shown. I thought if we could just delay access to a gun, oftentimes that will be enough to save someone's life and certainly enough for them to find help. Well, I appreciate your work. If you could talk a little bit about how you talk about ERPO with people in your community. I think our listeners here today would like to hear about how you engage in dialogue about ERPO with the people that you know. Well, because I'm just a staunch advocate of preventing suicide, I talk whenever I find an opening about mental health, just so that people become more comfortable with the topic and also suicide. Again, that's not a topic that most people are comfortable with and it's a disturbing topic, but it's far less disturbing than going to a funeral and that's talking about it and finding ways to help someone. Absolutely. I think we'd all rather talk about having those uncomfortable and difficult conversations, if it can lead to someone's life being saved. From your perspective, what are the three most important things that people can do to support ERPO in the states where they live? I think what people can do it's not so much that they wanted to support ERPO is that they want to support the people in their lives that they care about. They want to find a way if that person is struggling to ask them, "Are you thinking of ending your life?" If they say yes, then the next question is, 'Do you have access to a firearm?" If they say yes, then find a way to remove that from the home for awhile until they're closest is past. Whether that's voluntary or whether it's through an extreme risk law, either way, it can prevent a significant number of suicides. That's certainly makes a lot of sense. What do you want people to know about ERPO in particular? Well, I want them to know that the courts are accessible 24/7, if not a judge, then on weekends, there are commissioners that family members can approach. They can approach law enforcement to ask for help to petition to temporarily remove someone's firearm because they've shown that they may harm themselves or they may harm someone else. You know, until Maryland got it's Extreme Risk Protection Order Law, there were protected voters in the state, but only if you threaten to harm someone else, if you were threatening to harm yourself, it was again, a shrug of like, 'Oh, well, what are you going to do?'' Well, there's plenty you can do, and one of those things you can do is petition for an extreme risk order. Now, I would say a voluntary turnover of your gun to someone else who couldn't hold it for you for awhile, might be preferable, but then there's other people that family members know their own relatives best and there are some that wouldn't voluntarily but if those who love them can step in and say, "This has to happen, so you can get some help." It's a good message and that really is the intention behind the law is to make it easier for people to remove those guns when they need a bit of help with both who are owning those guns and dealing with the crisis that they're in. I do think is Maryland because it's immediate, there's no delay from when the temporary order is issued that the guns can be removed. Because even if they wait three days, that may be too long. The emergency aspect of these is really important. All right. I certainly appreciate your time and you sharing some of your story with us and you sharing your words of wisdom with people who are interested in understanding better how ERPOs can work in their communities and understanding that there are things that can be done when our loved ones are in crisis. But it's not something that's easy. It's not something that we talk about enough. But there are ways that we can help. Thank you very much for your time again and your insights. It was wonderful talking with you. Thank you.
