Prevention Starts Before a Crisis
Three Ways to Take Part Right Now
Check In With Yourself
Free, Anonymous Mental Health Screenings
WTTA offers free, anonymous mental health screenings through an independent collaboration with Mental Health America. The screenings are available year-round and can help you better understand whether you may be experiencing symptoms associated with conditions such as anxiety or depression. They are not a diagnosis, but they can provide a private, informative first step and information you may choose to discuss with a healthcare professional. Available year-round.
Add Your Voice
Take the Current WTTA Survey
Firearm owners understand firearm culture better than anyone. WTTA’s current anonymous survey is designed to learn directly from that experience. The survey explores how firearm owners think about mental health, seeking support, and firearm storage during periods of increased stress. It is not intended to judge respondents, advance a policy position, or identify individuals. Responses will help inform future education, research, and voluntary prevention resources. The survey takes approximately 8–10 minutes. Participation is voluntary, responses are anonymous, and results will be reported only in aggregate. Open September 1–30, 2026.
Put Better Resources to Work
Use the Updated WTTA Toolkit
WTTA’s newly updated toolkit gives individuals, firearm businesses, instructors, ranges, manufacturers, and community organizations practical materials they can use and share. The toolkit includes updated statistics and resources, the WTTA Mental Health Plan, mental-health materials in English and Spanish, responsible-storage education, social-media graphics, flyers, shooting targets, and other materials designed to bring suicide-prevention information into trusted settings. The goal is not simply to make information available. It is to help people use it in ways that feel relevant, respectful, and practical.
September Through December 2026
September
Listen, Check In, and Start the Conversation
Suicide Prevention Month creates an important opportunity to focus attention on mental health and the lives that can be saved through earlier action. This September, WTTA is asking people throughout the firearm community to:
- Take a private mental health screening, even if nothing feels immediately wrong.
- Complete the current anonymous survey and help shape future prevention work.
- Download and share the updated WTTA toolkit.
- Talk with trusted family members or friends about what support could look like during a difficult period.
- Bring culturally informed mental health resources into ranges, shops, training programs, and other firearm-community settings.
Prevention does not require waiting until someone is in crisis. It can begin with a conversation, a personal plan, or a few minutes spent checking in.
September Highlight: Hope, Safety, and Support
On September 8, WTTA’s Mike Sodini and Kevin Berry joined Emmy Betz, MD, MPH, and Chris Knoepke, PhD, from the University of Colorado Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative for a webinar titled Hope, Safety, and Support: A Conversation About Firearm Suicide Prevention. The conversation brought firearm-community, clinical, and research perspectives together to explore practical approaches to prevention. Panelists discussed reducing mental-health stigma, supporting people and families during difficult periods, and building partnerships that respect firearm owners while creating more opportunities for help. The webinar reflects an important part of WTTA’s work: bringing communities with different backgrounds and expertise into the same conversation, listening carefully, and finding areas where collaboration can lead to practical action.
October
Support the Work
October offers two special ways to support WTTA while the broader suicide-prevention work continues.
Guns.com and North American Arms Benefit Auction
Guns.com and North American Arms are offering six custom, hand-engraved Earl revolvers through an exclusive no-reserve benefit auction. The auction honors the story and legacy behind the NAA Earl while supporting greater awareness of mental health and suicide prevention within the firearm community. The auction runs through October 4, 2026, and 100% of its proceeds support WTTA.
Pot of Gold Auctions Fundraiser
Pot of Gold Auctions is hosting an online fundraiser benefiting Walk the Talk America. The catalog includes firearms, training products, outdoor equipment, and other donated items. Bidding is already open, and the auction concludes on October 13, 2026. Auction proceeds, excluding the buyer’s premium and applicable tax, benefit WTTA. If something in the catalog interests you, placing a bid is one way to support the mission.
These auctions are opportunities to support WTTA. They are not the purpose of this page, and bidding is not the only way to participate. Click here to learn how you can support WTTA directly.
November
Keep the Conversation Going
Suicide prevention does not stop when an awareness month or fundraiser ends. In November, this page will be updated with continuing work involving firearm owners, mental health professionals, researchers, educators, retailers, manufacturers, and other partners. We will share useful resources, new collaborations, and practical ways people can continue building prevention into their organizations and communities. Check back in November for the next update.
December
Reflect, Learn, and Prepare for What Comes Next
At the end of the year, WTTA will use this space to reflect on what we learned, what moved forward, and where more work is needed. We will share highlights from our education, research collaborations, screenings, partnerships, responsible-storage initiatives, and community outreach, along with a look at the priorities carrying into 2027. Because suicide prevention does not restart every September. It continues every day.
WTTA in the National Conversation
WTTA’s work is reaching audiences across the firearm industry, mental-health community, and broader national conversation.
Firearm Owners Are Being Invited to Speak for Themselves
In September, Bearing Arms highlighted WTTA’s 2026 Guns AND Mental Health Survey and encouraged firearm owners to participate. The coverage emphasized why firearm owners need opportunities to speak for themselves and help shape research, education, and prevention resources intended to serve their community.
Planning for Mental Health Before a Crisis
In April, GunsAmerica explored WTTA’s Mental Health Plan through an idea familiar to firearm owners: responsible people prepare before an emergency occurs. The feature shows how personal mental-health planning can be approached with the same practical mindset people already bring to home defense, training, and responsible ownership.
Suicide Prevention on the SHOT Show Stage
In January, Mike Sodini joined firearm-industry and prevention leaders for the first Suicide Prevention Town Hall held during SHOT Show. NSSF’s coverage highlighted WTTA’s free, anonymous screenings, its work with firearm manufacturers, and Mike’s call for the firearm industry to take an active leadership role in mental health and suicide prevention.
There Is More Than One Way to Help
Check In
Take a free, private screening and give yourself a few minutes to notice how you are doing.
Share Your Perspective
If you are a firearm owner, add your experience to research and prevention work intended to serve the community.
Share a Resource
Use the toolkit in a range, shop, classroom, workplace, training program, healthcare setting, or conversation with someone you care about.
Support the Mission
Your contribution helps WTTA keep screenings free, improve resources, support research partnerships, and bring firearm and mental-health communities together.
Bring WTTA Into Your Organization
Invite WTTA to speak, collaborate, or help your organization build a more culturally informed approach to mental health and suicide prevention.
Guns AND Mental Health
They are not mutually exclusive.
September gives us an important reason to talk about suicide prevention. WTTA will keep talking about it in October, November, December, and every month that follows.
Need Help Now?
If you or someone you know needs immediate support, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.