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The Utah Senate approved a bill authorizing a study on the correlation between suicides and the use of firearms in the state.
Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, the bill's Senate sponsor, said that every session, legislators have bills they think are "the greatest," and HB440 falls in that category.
Under the proposed bill, a state suicide-prevention coordinator would conduct the study with the help of a state agency, private entity or research institution. The report would then be submitted to the Health and Human Services Interim Committee.
"The issue of suicides in Utah and suicides related to guns is pretty important," Bramble said, "and so this bill should move the dial if we understand better what's happening."
HB440, already approved in the House, passed the Senate 19-6. The bill now goes to the governor.