Leupold & Stevens Supports NSSF Project ChildSafe Campaign on Mental Health for Parents, Veterans, Law Enforcement and Youth During ‘Suicide Prevention Month’

Posted on: Sep 09, 2022

NEWTOWN, Conn. — Leupold & Stevens has donated $10,000 to NSSF^®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, in support of a Project ChildSafe^® program campaign during September—Suicide Prevention Month—to help parents, veterans, law enforcement and teens better understand mental health. “NSSF is grateful to Leupold & Stevens for supporting our Project ChildSafe campaign to help parents, teens and loved ones recognize when someone is struggling with their mental health and how to support them,” said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF’s President and CEO and Chairman of the Project ChildSafe Foundation. “NSSF is dedicated to educating industry, firearm owners and their families about mental health and suicide prevention, and this donation demonstrates how important the topic is to NSSF member companies.” Leupold & Stevens is a leading optics manufacturer based in Beaverton, Oregon, and is an NSSF Patron-level member. “We’re honored to help NSSF and Project ChildSafe broaden the reach of their educational messages about mental health,” said Bruce Pettet, Leupold President and CEO. “Each of us has the ability to support someone who is struggling with their mental health so they can recover and fully enjoy life, including all forms of outdoor recreation, with family and friends.” The Project ChildSafe social media campaign will help educate gun owners, parents of teens and other teen-adjacent adults, law enforcement audiences, and veterans and military families. The goal is to join mental health advocates, prevention organizations and allies in the gun-owning community to promote mental health awareness and suicide prevention. The campaign will highlight Project ChildSafe and NSSF resources such as:

• A Parent’s Guide to Understand Youth Mental Health and Preventing Unauthorized Access to Firearms, developed in partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
• Being There for Your Friends – a guide for teens
• How Police and First Responders Can Support Each Other (from AFSP)
• Veterans’ resources, developed by and in partnership with the U.S. Veterans Administration
• Resources on the role of secure firearm storage in suicide prevention

The campaign will run through the month of September. Other organizations wishing to support the campaign, or the Project ChildSafe Foundation, can contact Bill Brassard, NSSF Senior Director of Communications, at bbrassard@nssf.org. For more information contact: Bill Brassard 203-426-1320 ext. 212 About NSSF The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org.