After daughter’s death, mother fights for mental health protection law

Larissa Strong believes in the Second Amendment.

She appreciates South Dakota gun laws, used to own a firearm herself and, “as a South Dakotan through and through,” loves to pheasant hunt.

But after her 21-year-old daughter killed herself last year with a handgun the young woman bought immediately after being released from a 24-hour suicide watch, Strong is asking for a tweak in an existing state law that could have saved a life.

“This isn’t a gun law,” says Strong, who recently returned from Washington, D.C., to informally present “Hailey’s Legacy Bill.” “This is a crucial suicide protection law to temporarily prevent those with a mental illness from obtaining firearms."

Strong says her daughter, Sioux Falls resident Hailey Barrick, had been cutting herself as early as 16 years old. As young as age 7, she was showing signs of mental stress. Doctors “chalked it up to bad behavior,” Strong says.

By her teenage years, she had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder.

From 2022 and until her death on Feb. 23, 2024, Hailey attempted suicide four times. After each attempt, she was taken to a mental health treatment center, in all occurrences sent home within a day, Strong says.

For that final visit, from Feb. 18-19, police officers were first called to her apartment after Hailey and her boyfriend had gotten in an argument. She had destroyed property, tried to take “handfuls” of medication, asphyxiate herself in her car and cut herself with glass chards from a bathroom mirror she had broken. After making threats to “buy a gun” and “end her life,” Strong says her boyfriend called law enforcement, who took Hailey to a treatment center and determined she stay on a 24-hour, involuntary hold.

Medical records continued to lay out that day that Hailey “had stabilized” upon arrival, “denied events that occurred prior to admission” and possessed “adequate capacity to make appropriate decisions for her future.” She was receptive to outpatient care, records state.

But no, she wasn’t, Strong says Hailey’s roommate told medical staff.

“She knows what to say so you’ll release her,” the roommate said. “She’s not good. She needs help.”

After being released the next day, Hailey filled out the federally required paperwork from a federally licensed firearms dealer “with no trouble.” On Feb. 21, she shot herself in her locked car parked inside her garage while her roommate was home trying to stop her.

Hailey died in the hospital two days later.

Only inpatient stays require a ban on firearm ownership

But here’s the thing.

If Hailey had been “committed” the day police officers brought her in due to suicide threats – mandated to an inpatient treatment program that would have provided more comprehensive care – Hailey wouldn’t have been able to purchase a gun upon release, Strong says.

According to the Gun Control Act of 1968, supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA) since 2008, federal law permanently bans individuals who have been determined by a lawful authority as “committed to a mental institution” or are “a danger to themselves or others” from purchasing firearms.

In South Dakota, there is then a two-step process: Officials in mental health facilities must first report individuals to the state’s attorney’s office, then the state’s attorney’s office reports those records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), all within 48 hours of a patient being admitted to a mental health treatment center.

As it reads in federal law, that report would remain indefinitely on a background check, unless, according to state law, the patient “can obtain relief from the disability” or “show a period of demonstrated recovery.”

Because Hailey was only put on a 24-hour hold – of which there is no waiting period in South Dakota and no ban entailed – she was spared from any federal rule prohibiting a purchase.

She also checked “no” on the mandated ATF Form 4473, which according to the paperwork asks whether a potential buyer has “ever been adjudicated as a mental defective or has ever been committed to a mental institution,” giving her double lawful clearance to take home a firearm.

Strong says “Hailey’s Legacy” could change that. The draft is a bipartisan bill that would amend state law so that, just like the reporting of an involuntary psychiatric hold, even a 24-hour suicide watch ordered by a legal official would need be reported to NICS as well.

‘It’s important to engage one another respectfully’

Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Thum says it’s about “responsible gun ownership.”

Last month, the South Dakota Department of Health released their 2025 Suicide Surveillance Report, citing suicide as the 10th leading cause of death in the state for 2024 and the leading cause of death for ages 20 to 39.

In the same year, the Centers for Disease Control reported that firearms were involved in more than half of suicides in South Dakota, with 80% of overall firearm deaths being from suicide.

“We have to be open to objective conversations about how we can do things better when it comes to individuals struggling with mental health issues,” Thum said. “It’s important that we engage one another respectfully and see what it is people are trying to protect rather than just getting mired into arguments.”

Suicide Prevention Month: How Sioux Falls rallied around awareness, support.

But Brad Tunge, a private gun dealer in Sioux Falls, says it’s difficult not to make it political.

“This is such a big, broad topic that really deserves a debate and nitpicking,” says Tunge, who sells to customers nationwide. “If you want to put a law in the books, it needs to be extremely specific and with rigorous guidelines for not allowing someone to express their rights through buying a firearm.”

Thomas Otten, vice president of Avera Behavioral Health, says he “recognizes” that gun ownership is “an important part of life in our state” but that a critical part of suicide prevention is regulated access.

“Suicide prevention is about protecting people during their most vulnerable moments,” Otten said. “That’s why taking steps to reduce access to lethal means of harm is an act of care that can save lives.”

What would this updated mandate look like?

Strong says if her proposed change passes, not all reports would be equally permanent.

Unlike the existing federal law, Strong says if someone is only put on a 24-hour hold like Hailey was, the firearm purchase barrier would be for point-of-sale only and temporary, maybe 18 months to two years, Strong says.

“This is not a Red Flag Law. It’s a preventative measure to regulate medications, give people time to want to live again and to protect people around them, too,” she says, noting research from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center that states individuals who leave 24-hour holds are “300 times more likely” to complete suicide compared with the general population “in the first week after discharge.”

Tunge says he wants more information on statistics like that so an amendment on gun access doesn’t feel like a “blanket statement” discriminating against treatment center patients.

“Suicide is nothing to play around with,” Tunge says. “It hurts my heart to see suicide rates climb the way they are, and I don’t want any part contributing to such an act.”

So as much information should be shared as possible for a bill like this to be supported, Tunge says.

“Just because someone went to a mental health facility doesn’t mean they are a menace to society or need their rights revoked,” he says. “We’ll need more information than that.”

For the past year, Strong has been working with Reps. Kadyn Wittman and Erik Muckey, both serving District 15 in Sioux Falls, to “precisely” draft Hailey’s bill “until it’s perfect” for South Dakota residents like Tunge. Wittman and Muckey were not available for comment about the work.

After completion from the Legislative Research Committee, the hope is to present the bill during the legislative session in January.

Strong says she’s also introduced the bill to “federal constituents” at the Whitehouse and last month chatted about it with U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson.

“He is a strong defender of the Second Amendment and also vocal about improving mental health in America,” spokesperson Kristen Blakely said on behalf of Johnson.

In 2021, he introduced a bipartisan bill to use unspent pandemic relief funds for suicide prevention, crisis counseling and addiction treatment.

“Every time our nation faces a tragedy, debate starts over about the need to invest in mental health to prevent future tragedy, but action has yet to come at a federal level,” Johnson said on his website in 2021.

Hear out those who have experienced loss

Strong will host a rally on Oct. 4 to honor her daughter and others in the region who have died by suicide. It’s a continued effort to “increase public awareness” on the grave intersection of mental illness and gun access, along with her proposed legislation, Strong says.

Thum calls for “patient” engagement.

“We as a state are very clear on our rights to have firearms,” he says. “But when it comes to the death of young people and talking with the families who are left behind, we should hear their call to action and listen to the ways they want to help others. It’s worth a healthy dialogue and maybe something we can all learn from, on how to best serve our community.”