Suicide Prevention and Awareness: Help Is Out There

How are you doing? You haven’t been yourself lately. Can we talk about what’s going on?”

Let’s face it: that’s the kind of awkward conversation most of us would prefer to avoid having. But an initiative by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is working to help gun owners understand that reaching out this way to someone who is having a hard time could save a life.

Suicides make up more than half of all firearm fatalities in the United States. The problem is especially acute among current and former military members. A 2021 Department of Defense report found that 70 percent of suicides among service members are enacted with a firearm, as are 60 percent of suicides among service member spouses.

In an effort to reduce these grim statistics, NSSF partnered with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), the nation’s largest suicide-prevention organization, to work with gun manufacturers, retailers, ranges and individuals to educate gun owners and their families.

Important Mission

“Our role is that of the ‘trusted messenger,’ ” explained Bill Brassard, NSSF’s point person for the Suicide Prevention Program. “We recognized the high percentage of gun deaths by suicide, but it took a while to find the right group to partner with. At the same time, AFSP was looking for a partner who could carry its message to gun owners."

The direct result of the NSSF/AFSP partnership was the development of an education toolkit consisting of posters, cards and displays for gun stores and shooting ranges, as well as a take-home brochure for customers, encouraging people to “Have a Brave Conversation.” Demand for these materials is high. Last year, about 2,600 toolkits were shipped to retailers, law enforcement agencies and others. In 2023, NSSF followed up these efforts by launching a new website, BraveConversation.org, a suicide-prevention educational tool.

“We use the NSSF materials, and they are very helpful,” said Jacquelyn Clark, owner of Bristlecone Shooting Center in Lakewood, Colorado.

“They are two-pronged. There are materials that help us train staff on what to look for and how to respond to a person in crisis, and there are customer-facing materials, including a flyer we make available when people sign in to shoot. NSSF is a trusted resource within the firearms community, and when the message comes from someone they trust, people are open to hearing it.”

Toolkits

The materials emphasize several important aspects of suicide prevention, including how to recognize warning signs and how to start a conversation with the person at risk. They also bust myths about suicide.

For example, asking a person directly if they are thinking about suicide does not put them at greater risk; it’s just the opposite. The materials emphasize that millions of Americans struggle with their mental health at some time during their lives, and during difficult times, there are steps that can be taken—without compromising anyone’s right to own firearms—to prevent a tragedy.

The NSSF/AFSP suicide-prevention training paid off last spring when a customer entered Austin Harlan’s The Range in Yakima, Washington. Harlan’s employees knew immediately that something wasn’t right.

“He was sending up red flags,” Harlan said. The man, as it turned out, was in the middle of a suicidal crisis. Because they knew the signs to watch for, Harlan and his team were able to intervene and prevent a tragedy. “We leaned back on the protocol that we learned from NSSF and AFSP and all of our training,” Harlan said.

Safe Storage

NSSF’s initiative also emphasizes the importance of safe storage of firearms in the home and, if necessary and legal, moving them temporarily to a secure location off-site.
“This creates time and distance. When a person is in crisis, it allows time for the crisis to pass,” said Brassard. He added that another pervasive myth surrounding suicide is that if someone is thwarted in a suicide attempt, they will just try again later. However research shows that in most cases, suicidal crises are short-lived, and for that reason, having temporary off-site firearms storage options available is important.

Clark's Bristlecone Shooting Center is a leader in the safe storage effort, offering a program called VetStore, funded by a grant from the Veterans Administration (VA), that provides a menu of free and low-cost safe storage options for gun owners, particularly veterans.

Options include trigger and cable locks, handgun lock boxes, and long-gun safes available for free or a small donation. There are also on-site storage options, including self-service lockers and a free gunsmith cleaning service that includes a 30-day hold. “I would love to see more stores offer temporary storage services,” said Clark. “Many retailers have concerns about space and liability, but we have helped to create a blueprint that other stores can follow.”

She says Bristlecone’s safe-storage services are useful to a wide range of people, not only those going through a hard time but also those traveling for an extended time or who have relatives or kids visiting their homes and want to put their guns out of reach.

All Benefit

“It provides a clear benefit to the community, and it’s good for business as well,” Clark said. The NSSF’s efforts are running in parallel to several other suicide-prevention and safe-storage initiatives started by gun owners and retailers, including Walk the Talk America (see sidebar), the Gun Shop Project, the Armory Project and Hold My Guns.

“The gun industry has come a long way in the last 10 years in terms of being proactive and willing to talk about this issue,” Clark said.

Gun makers are enthusiastically supporting NSSF’s suicide-prevention efforts, according to Brassard. Several are using the messaging and graphics supplied by NSSF in their websites, e-newsletters and social media to broaden the reach of these initiatives. NSSF and VA have co-hosted an annual suicide prevention roundtable for the gun industry for the past two years.

“Companies like Ruger, Beretta, SIG, Bass Pro Shops, Sportsman’s Warehouse and GunBroker all came to learn more about suicide prevention,” Brassard said. “The industry has been incredibly supportive.”

Impact and Success

As for the success of the initiative, he concedes it’s difficult to know how well prevention efforts are working. “If it doesn’t happen, it’s not reported,” Brassard said. “However, we are measuring our success by the demand for our materials, and demand continues to rise.

“Suicide numbers are still high nationwide, but the conversation is changing around talking about mental health—it’s okay to talk about it now,” he said.

“Everybody recognizes that while we must always respect our Second Amendment rights, guns should not be in the hands of someone with suicidal thoughts. Through education and awareness in the gun community, we can save lives.”

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