Suicide spurs call for “cooling off” period

Andrew Robert Black, 23, died Thursday, December 6, in his home in Essex, Vermont.

His mother, Alyssa Hughes Black, says he purchased a firearm earlier that day and took his own life hours later.

He became upset about something,” she says. “And we know that he walked into a gun shop at 11:02 (a.m.), they wan a background check on him, the credit card receipt from the gun was 11:26 (a.m.), and somewhere between three and four that afternoon, he shot himself.”

Black’s newspaper obituary asks that in lieu of flowers, Vermonters ask that those who wish to honor Black’s life to consider lobbying legislators with the following:

“In honor of Andrew R. Black, we ask that you work for legislation that imposes a reasonable waiting period between firearm purchase and possession to provide a cooling off period to guard against impulsive acts of violence.”

“It was way too easy for this 23-year-old kid to go down and buy a gun. If nothing but 24 hours to just cool down and realize that…it wasn’t the answer,” says Black’s father, Rob, a combat veteran who owns guns and keeps them locked up when not out for target practice.

Black’s mother and father want to make it very clear: they don’t want this to be political. They’re not part of any lobbying group and they are not anti-gun.

“We are responsible gun owners, we believe in our second amendment right to own guns, but we also think ‘what’s the big deal? What is 24 hours?'” his mother asks.

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