A new report ranks Idaho near the bottom among states for its laws on gun safety.

The organization Everytown for Gun Safety places Idaho 49th for the strength of its firearm laws. Of the 50 gun-related policies the group investigated, it said the state only has four policies in place, and Idaho's gun-violence rate is higher than the national average.

Jacqui Hamilton, volunteer state chapter co-lead for Moms Demand Action Idaho, which is associated with Everytown for Gun Safety, believes the Gem State can do better to protect people from gun violence.

"It's disheartening," Hamilton stated. "I grew up here, I grew up in Idaho; we moved here when I was 13 in 1982. My family has hunted. We've owned firearms in our house, but we also practice safety."

The report noted Idaho has the fourth-highest rate of gun ownership in the country, and also the fourth-highest rate of gun suicides. Groups supporting gun use and ownership argued laws restricting access violate Americans' Second-Amendment rights.

Hamilton countered there are laws on the books in other states Idaho lawmakers could pass to promote gun safety.

"We would like to see universal background checks on every gun sale," Hamilton asserted. "Right now, there are loopholes. We would like to keep firearms out of the hands of people who shouldn't have firearms, such as convicted domestic abusers."

She also pointed to a shooting at the Boise Towne Square mall last year which killed two people. The shooter had been convicted of felony theft in Illinois, but it did not bar him from having a gun under Idaho state law.

Idaho ranks above only Mississippi in the Everytown for Gun Safety report. The group identified California as first for the strength of its gun-safety laws.

For the second year in a row, suicides represent nearly 70% of all gun deaths in Minnesota. Those working to stop gun violence hope the new data opens more eyes to a concerning trend, and dispels some myths as well.

The 2021 gun death numbers, released this month by the group Protect Minnesota, coincide with Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. The group's Executive Director Rashmi Seneviratne said many suicides by firearm are concentrated in rural parts of the state and often involve older men.

As farming communities deal with economic stress, she said guns handed down from previous generations might still be in the family home.

"Past generations have grown up being used to guns for hunting, for food and that sort of thing," said Seneviratne, "and that's not necessarily what we're using it as much for."

And she said there's concern not enough conversations are happening within these families about safe storage.

Protect Minnesota says the numbers also show gun deaths aren't just an issue in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. But Seneviratne said it's important to not overlook gun violence in urban settings and the effect it has at the community level.

Whether it's suicides or gun violence in communities, Seneviratne said policymakers can't lose sight of the root causes.

"We say 'Minneapolis' and we say 'Greater Minnesota,' but the root causes are the same," said Seneviratne, "It's lack of resources. It's lack of educational activities after school, and opportunities. It's lack of viable employment opportunities."

As of late, Minnesota has had the lowest unemployment rate in the country. But labor analysts say in rural areas, having the necessary skills for available jobs has been a roadblock for some.

Meanwhile, Seneviratne said promoting safe gun storage or trigger locks can add seconds to a volatile situation that might prompt an individual to reconsider their actions.

The five-year anniversary of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history is coming up Oct. 1, and Las Vegas is preparing to honor the victims, survivors and first responders.

When a gunman opened fire on the Route 91 music festival, 59 people died, and 867 people were injured, as he shot down from a room at the nearby Mandalay Bay Hotel.

Tennille Pereira, director of the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center, said the massacre still has the city on edge, citing a recent incident where someone threw a rock at a glass door at the MGM Grand, causing a panic.

"All the mass shootings that are across the nation has changed our mindset, where if glass breaks, we are automatically assuming that there's a shooter. The mass shootings have definitely changed the way the community responds to things."

This year's commemoration is called "From The Darkest Night Comes The Strongest Light." The Vegas Strong Resiliency Center is giving away kits to make a lantern, which can be displayed in people's front windows. On Sept. 30, they will sponsor a webinar with a mental-health professional who will show people how to build the lantern.

Many other community events are planned on Saturday the first, including a sunrise remembrance ceremony and a concert called the Remember Music Festival at the Clark County Government Center.

Pereira noted the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center offers ongoing support groups and services for victims of the massacre and other types of crimes.

"The truth is that you don't get over this, it changes you, and it changes the community," Pereira explained. "It is important to mark that and recognize that and validate what people are going through."

Other community events to mark Oct. 1 include a quilt exhibit, a blood drive and a ceremony with a reading of the victims' names.

Gun violence is a major issue across the country, and now, the work of a 20th-century anthropologist could help people dive deeper into their own relationship with guns.

The Seattle-based Ernest Becker Foundation is hosting a webinar using a theory put forth by the group's namesake to explore the topic of gun violence. Becker's work involved death anxiety.

Jeff Greenberg, a professor at the University of Arizona who will be part of the webinar, said death anxiety compels a person's attraction to or fear of guns, and he pointed out the fear of death can also cause people to cling tighter to their views on guns.

"A big way that we keep a lid on our death anxieties is to believe that we are part of this meaningful world, and that we have some significance in the context of this meaningful world," Greenberg explained.

Greenberg noted some people are afraid of dying from guns, while others believe they provide protection from death for themselves and their families. The panel on gun violence and mortality takes place online on Sept. 13.

Julia Weber, implementation director for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, will moderate the conversation. She believes Becker's work on death anxiety can help guide the country to more solutions on gun violence.

"It's an opportunity, really, to humanize the problem, in the sense that we can all recognize that we have certain types of anxiety in common," Weber contended. "This generalized concern about death anxiety, I think, can really help inform the work in violence prevention."

Greenberg asserted death anxiety points to why people on the left and right become entrenched in their worldviews. He contended it is important to understand the effect of confronting one's own mortality on beliefs.

"When emotion comes into it, and anxiety obviously is an emotion, you tend to get this sort of rigidity," Greenberg observed. "Rather than a more open-minded engagement with different views that might lead to more progress toward compromise solutions that everybody can get on board with."