1

Firearm business partnerships

Overview

Firearm businesses and their employees are trusted sources of information about firearms, firearm safety, and responsible firearm ownership. Because of this, firearm businesses can be involved in efforts to educate their customers and communities on ways to reduce firearm-related harms. This often means working together with public health and mental health groups to share information, education, and resources.
 

The Gun Shop Project, started in New Hampshire in 2009, is a project where public health agencies work with firearm businesses to promote firearm safety and suicide prevention. The focus is on limiting access to firearms for people at risk of suicide. In Colorado, the project is run by the Colorado Office of Suicide Prevention and Western Slope Veterans Coalition, and it covers all counties in the state.

In 2016, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the largest suicide prevention organization in the United States, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms industry, partnered to create and share materials about suicide prevention and firearms for firearm businesses, shooting ranges, and firearm owners.
 

The Pause to Protect program was created by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus with support from the U.S. Department of Defense Suicide Prevention Office and the Face the Fight Coalition. The program focuses on reducing all types of firearm-related harms, not only suicide, and gives firearm businesses tools to make it easier to provide education or services to their customers. This includes offering temporary on-site firearm storage or discounts on locking devices for secure firearm storage at home. The program builds on the Gun Shop Project and helps firearm businesses deal with common problems like operational issues, liability concerns, talking about suicide, lack of space, and high costs.
 

How to implement firearm partnerships

  • Colorado firearm businesses can join the Colorado Gun Shop Project for free by displaying posters, flyers, or other materials that raise awareness about suicide, mental health resources, and safe firearm storage. They can also include information about suicide prevention in firearm safety training and offer temporary on-site storage for firearms. To get involved, businesses can email the Colorado Office of Suicide Prevention at cdphe_suicideprevention@state.co.us.
  • Firearm businesses can use the suicide prevention toolkit from the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
  • Firearm businesses can access free tools and resources from the Pause to Protect program. These resources help businesses provide education and services about safe firearm storage to prevent all firearm-related harms. The program offers temporary firearm storage options, educational materials for customers, and services for distributing locking devices.
  • Other firearm-related injury prevention organizations can work with local firearm businesses to help with ongoing needs, such as messaging about preventing firearm-related harms, staff training, and liability concerns or logistics.
  • The Colorado Gun Shop Project funds firearm advocates to outreach firearm businesses and provide firearm businesses with free suicide prevention materials. Additionally, Pause to Protect already funds some firearm businesses in Colorado to provide education, resources, and services around the prevention of firearm-related harms. However, there is still opportunity for other funding partners to support these important efforts.

Evidence supporting firearm business partnerships

Firearm businesses are trusted sources of information on firearm safety and storage. Although there is limited research on the implementation and effectiveness of partnerships with firearm business, the results so far are promising. Studies show that firearm businesses are open to learning about and taking part in suicide prevention efforts related to firearms and are sharing educational materials about suicide prevention. Research also shows that temporary firearm storage is in demand. One study found that half of firearm businesses in eight U.S. states, including Colorado, received requests to temporarily store firearms in the last year. Another study showed that more than a quarter of firearm owners in Colorado and Washington state had stored a firearm outside their home in the past five years.

  1. Anestis, M. D., Bond, A. E., Bryan, A. O., & Bryan, C. J. (2021). An examination of preferred messengers on firearm safety for suicide prevention. Preventive Medicine, 145, 106452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106452   
  2. Barnard, L. M., Johnson, R. L., Brandspigel, S., Rooney, L. A., McCarthy, M., Rivara, F. P., Rowhani-Rahbar, A., Knoepke, C. E., Peterson, R. A., & Betz, M. E. (2023). Practices, knowledge, and concerns for out-of-home firearm storage among those with access to firearms: results from a survey in two states. Injury Epidemiology, 10(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-023-00426-9 
  3. Polzer, E., Brandspigel, S., Kelly, T., & Betz, M. E. (2021). ‘Gun shop projects’ for suicide prevention in the USA: Current state and future directions. Injury Prevention, 27(2), 150–154. https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2020-043648 
  4. Runyan, C. W., Brooks-Russell, A., Brandspigel, S., Betz, M. E., Tung, G., Novins, D., & Agans, R. (2017). Law enforcement and gun retailers as partners for safely storing guns to prevent suicide: A study in 8 mountain West States. American Journal of Public Health, 107, 1789–1794. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304013 
  5. Vriniotis, M., Barber, C., Frank, E., Demicco, R., & New Hampshire Firearm Safety Coalition. (2015). A suicide prevention campaign for firearm dealers in New Hampshire. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 45(2), 157–163. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12123 
  6. Walton, T., & Stuber, J. (2020). Firearms retailers and suicide: Results from a survey assessing willingness to engage in prevention efforts. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 50(1), 83–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12574 
  7. Wright-Kelly, E., Buck-Atkinson, J. T., Betz, M. E., Little, K., Little, J. S., Kingston, B. E., Sigel, E., & Arredondo-Mattson, S. (2024). Firearm businesses as partners in suicide prevention:  cross-sectional study of the Gun Shop Project in Colorado, USA. Injury Prevention, ip-2023-045. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1136/ip-2023-045178