NSSF^® and industry are working to raise awareness in the firearm-owning community about preventing suicide.

In this issue:

		NSSF’s Gun Storage Check Week® during National Suicide Prevention Month (Sept. 1-7)
		New gun lock hangtag/labels and fact card for manufacturers
		“Marketing’s Biggest Challenge” at NSSF’s Marketing & Leadership Summit
		A SHOT Show® panel on suicide prevention for FFLs
		NSSF-VA webinar for FFLs and range staff
		Resources to promote education about preventing suicide

This is the first “Have a Brave Conversation” newsletter covering NSSF and its partners’ efforts to help reduce suicide, with a focus on suicide involving a firearm. The newsletter, to be issued regularly, will keep you informed of our activities and is a reminder to use the resources that NSSF provides to industry, organizations and individuals to help save lives.

NSSF continues to work diligently with its partners—the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)—to help reduce the number of individuals who, during a period of despair, take their own lives.

Looking ahead, NSSF’s Gun Storage Check Week will run September 1-7 during National Suicide Prevention Month. 

You can help promote education about securely storing firearms and suicide prevention by using the promotional toolkit on the website. The campaign’s slogan is “Make Sure It’s Secure^®.” The June version of Gun Storage Check Week was hugely successful thanks to promotions by industry companies, organizations, law enforcement agencies and influencers that reached millions of gun owners. We’re hoping for a repeat of that success in September.

This past May at the NSSF Marketing & Leadership Summit in Clearwater Beach, Florida, a full afternoon was devoted to “Marketing’s Biggest Challenge”—how industry can help reduce suicide by educating firearm owners and their families about securely storing firearms, understanding warning signs and feeling confident about reaching out to someone you’re concerned about.

Dr. Matthew Miller, Executive Director for VA Suicide Prevention, with Joe Bartozzi, NSSF President and CEO.

We encourage industry employees and the firearm-owning community to remember the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, the 988/Press 1 Veterans Crisis Line, how to have a “brave conversation” with someone who’s struggling and how secure storage puts “time and space” between a lethal means and a person in crisis. Take a deeper dive on these topics by viewing the NSSF-AFSP resource sheet.

We salute our speakers at the Marketing and Leadership Summit: Dr. Matthew Miller, Executive Director of VA Suicide Prevention; Dr. Emmy Betz, Emergency Room Physician with the University of Colorado School, Anschutz Medical Center; NSSF Board of Directors member Jacquelyn Clark of Bristlecone Shooting Center, an FFL; veteran Caleb Morse of FFL Rustic Renegade; Waco Hoover, Chairman of the American Legion’s Be The One program and brand strategist; NSSF President and CEO Joe Bartozzi and Bill Brassard, NSSF Senior Director, Communications, who oversees NSSF safety and suicide prevention efforts. We extend our thanks to Dr. Russell Lemle of the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute for his assistance with planning the agenda.

Links to messaging resources mentioned at the summit, such as secure storage and suicide prevention ads, PSAs and shareable graphics, are below.

Why We Do This

Suicide is preventable, not inevitable.

Understanding this reality provides hope for those in crisis as well as family and friends who see their loved ones struggling.

More than half of all U.S. firearm-related fatalities annually are suicide deaths. For this reason and others, NSSF and industry—because they carry trust and credibility—can help change attitudes and behaviors about this difficult, once-taboo subject. More open discussions can remove the stigma associated with talking about suicide and seeking care for mental health and life struggles.

Firearm owners will understand that messaging from industry inherently respects and supports their right to own and use firearms responsibly. It’s important for the firearm-owning community to engage on this topic to have each other’s back, to assist friends and family or, simply, anyone who needs help.

We invite you to join our efforts to help save lives.

Check out these new resources from NSSF

		NSSF has added a hangtag to its Project ChildSafe cable gun locks showing the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline number and the message: “Help is Available. Call 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, if you or someone you know is struggling,” and on the tag’s reverse side is a QR code leading to more detailed information. NSSF invites industry companies to add the hangtag to their cable gun locks or as a label on safes and other storage devices.
		NSSF has created a 5x7 “Have a Brave Conversation” card for manufacturers to include with new firearm packaging. The card includes suicide prevention information and a QR code for additional education.
		A “Make Sure It’s Secure” sticker/graphic is available for distribution by NSSF member companies. The stickers can be applied to gun cases, safes and more to remind people to help prevent unwanted access to firearms. Safe manufacturers might consider printing the graphic on their products or including it with packaging.

Highlights from the Community

SHOT University hosted a panel discussion on suicide prevention

• At the SHOT Show, AFSP unveiled a short slide presentation on suicide prevention that firearm instructors can incorporate into their training courses for gun owners. NSSF supports this effort and encourages instructors and FFLs and ranges that host classes to review and use the slides. Download the slide deck.
• Also at SHOT Show, the SHOT University^™ featured a panel focused on the important role firearm retailers can play in educating staff and customers about suicide prevention. A SHOT Business story, “Leading the Charge,” highlights the panelists’ messages.
• The Armory Project (TAP) helps prevent firearm suicide by facilitating safe, voluntary out-of-home firearm storage with trusted firearm retailers and other vetted partners in local communities. Founded by Dr. Gala True of the VA and Caleb Morse, of the Rustic Renegade in Lafayette, Louisiana, TAP is rapidly expanding its firearm retailer partners in Louisiana and Arkansas and consults with interested FFLs in other states. TAP played a significant role in Louisiana passing a civil liability relief law to protect FFLs upon the return of firearm being temporarily held. Such laws are gaining traction around the U.S.

Spotlight

Meet Mike Sodini of Walk The Talk America

Mike Sodini is a leading voice in suicide prevention within the firearm community. Mike led Eagle Imports, the family business, but after experiencing a tragic firearm-related suicide loss, he formed Walk the Talk America (WTTA)—to bridge the gap between mental health and responsible gun ownership.

WTTA provides free mental health screenings, educational tools and clinician training to raise awareness and reduce stigmas or judgment gun owners might face when seeking out professional help. So far, hundreds of mental health professionals have already completed WTTA’s firearm culture training.

“No one is better equipped to lead the conversation and provide nuanced solutions to reduce negative outcomes with firearms than responsible gun owners and the 2A industry themselves.”

—Mike Sodini, Founder, Walk the Talk America

Education and Resources

• NSSF’s suicide prevention webpages—NSSF.org/safety/suicide-prevention—have been updated so that all segments of industry can view and order suicide prevention resources. All materials are free of charge. Included are the NSSF-AFSP suicide prevention toolkit for firearm retailers, ranges and others, videos and shareable graphics.
• NSSF’s BraveConversation.org is a general resource website on suicide prevention.
• Many veterans hold a common misconception that seeking mental health care or other treatments from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would lead to their guns being confiscated. This belief, though widespread, is mistaken. A fact sheet developed by Dr. Russell Lemle of the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute and distributed by NSSF and other groups aims to clarify the facts about veterans’ health care and gun ownership rights.

Collaboration

• VA—In cooperation with NSSF, the VA presented a webinar for FFLs on how to train staff to better recognize when a customer should not be buying or renting a firearm. Watch it here.
• Walk The Talk America—Mike Sodini and Jake Wiskerchen continue to air their podcasts focusing on mental health and preventing suicide at WTTA.org. NSSF President and CEO Joe Bartozzi was a guest in this episode. Learn more about Mike and the important work WTTA is doing in our Spotlight feature below.

Events

• NSSF’s Gun Storage Check Week runs September 1-7 during National Suicide Prevention Month. Help promote the message of “Make Sure It’s Secure.” See the Promotional Toolkit here.
• NSSF Range-Retailer Summit—NSSF’s Have a Brave Conversation program displayed suicide prevention resources for industry at this event in July.

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