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Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation teams up with firearms community for campaign


Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation teams up with firearms community for campaign (WKRC)
Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation teams up with firearms community for campaign (WKRC)
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CINCINNATI (WKRC) - The Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation is working with the firearms community through a new, first-of-its-kind campaign, Life Side Ohio.


“I think one of the campaign’s focuses is that we can’t speak about mental health in hushed tones anymore,” Butler County Suicide Prevention Coalition chair Kristen Smith said. “It’s time to get loud and shout about it and we need the firearms community to be in this as well.”

One of the goals of Life Side Ohio is to educate gun owners about how to safely store guns and recognize the warning signs of suicide.


“It’s definitely not about taking away guns,” Smith said. “It is about, ‘What is the best course of action for people who own firearms to protect lives?’ And everybody wants to protect lives.”

In the beginning of the campaign, organizers will focus on reaching out to three firearms communities: veterans, retailers and law enforcement.

“They’re the ones that use firearms and care about firearms, and if they know about this campaign, we can all work together to prevent suicide,” Smith said. “If we’re seeing a large percentage of people who died by suicide and it’s due to a firearm, then it only makes sense to reach out to this population. To people who own the firearms.”

On Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., The Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation will host a press conference at Miami University’s Hamilton campus.

The non-profit will host similar press conferences in Cleveland and Columbus as well.

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