A new study published by Harvard Public Health says the majority of gun deaths in America are suicides. That fact, the researchers say, is lost in the public debate over gun safety. More than eight out of 10 people who attempt to take their own life with a gun die. Access to a firearm is a major risk factor for suicide, as studies like this 2020 New England Journal of Medicine report show. And while it’s difficult to generalize about a whole group, we can say that a lot of white men own guns — about half, compared to roughly a quarter of white women and nonwhite men, and one in six nonwhite women. “It is not surprising that the group with the broadest firearm ownership and access sees elevated rates of firearm suicide,” says Kelly Drane, research director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

The time-honored protocol for surviving an active-shooter incident is to “run, hide, fight.” But some experts say it may be time to rethink that guideline. “Things have changed. There’s more mass shootings, the weaponry is faster, it’s more deadly, a lot of damage can be done in a little period of time. And, as we’ve seen in some cases, we can’t totally depend on law enforcement,” security expert Juliette Kayyem says.

I want to point you to a tender story about a crew of cemetery caretakers who tend a section of a memorial garden reserved for children. Lately, they say, they have had to expand the section because so many young people have died in gun violence. It is a story that will touch you.

And is there really a spy balloon flying over the United States? The answer seems to be yes. NBC reports, “The high-altitude balloon was spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday. It flew over the Aleutian Islands, through Canada, and into Montana. A senior defense official said the balloon is still over the U.S. but declined to say where it is now.” It is suspected to be a Chinese surveillance balloon and the U.S. military is discussing whether to shoot it down. The balloon is way above air traffic and, this may surprise you, the Pentagon says this is not that unusual. They have seen it before and, in fact, it has been happening for years.