Leaders at the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) are proud of their partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and rightly so. As the firearm industry trade association, NSSF has an obligation to help save lives and is proud to fulfill this duty.
So, it is understandable that a recent hit piece published at thetrace.com, the Michael Bloomberg-funded propaganda arm of so-called Everytown for Gun Safety, raised the ire of those at the NSSF.
In a report headlined “Everytown’s Propaganda Arm Puts Gun Control Over Saving Lives,” NSSF President and CEO Joe Bartozzi laid into The Trace and writer Mike Spies, whom NSSF has spotlighted in the past for his anti-gun slant to nearly everything he writes.
“Everytown for Gun Safety’s propaganda arm—The Trace—is proving that they’re more interested in fomenting an illusion of conflict than recognizing the importance of saving lives,” Bartozzi wrote in the report. “It’s more than unfortunate. It’s appalling and disgusting, in all honesty.”
As Bartozzi pointed out, Spies framed the relationship as self-serving and insinuated nefarious intent.
“For AFSP, it was a potent rallying cry for potential donors and volunteers—a clear, galvanizing mission that could be achieved with enough support,” Spies wrote. “For the NSSF, the partnership cast the trade group and the industry it represents as proactive, even perhaps at the expense of profit, and worthy of goodwill from lawmakers, regulators and adversaries.”
Bartozzi and other NSSF leaders expressed anger at Spies for questioning their motives in a partnership designed to save lives.
“Let me be perfectly clear: NSSF and AFSP forged this relationship to prevent the tragedy of suicide,” Bartozzi wrote. “NSSF recognizes that more than half of suicide deaths involve a firearm. That’s unacceptable—especially when the experts in this field inform us that suicide is preventable. The firearm industry wants to be part of the solution. However, we recognize that we are not suicide prevention experts.”
On the flip side, Bartozzi wrote, AFSP is exactly that.
“Likewise, AFSP is—by definition—wholly dedicated to reducing and ultimately eliminating suicide by all means,” Bartozzi wrote. “The relationship brought the two organizations together to offer real solutions to a vexing problem. The cause is noble. It is right. Neither I nor the NSSF will abandon our efforts to save lives, no matter the ginned-up criticism by an anti-gun organization that’s bent on denying lawful firearm ownership to all Americans.”
Ultimately, Bartozzi wrote, The Trace is ignorant about both guns and suicides, which isn’t all that surprising given the wrong sides it takes on nearly every issue involving firearms.
“Everytown and The Trace’s criticism isn’t just unfounded, it is abhorrent,” Bartozzi concluded. “In the estimation of the gun control organization, the only answer is to eliminate gun ownership in America. Gun control groups lump suicides together with the criminal misuse of a firearm as a ‘gun violence’ issue. The reality is that suicide is a complex problem. Despite The Trace’s disparagement, suicide isn’t a ‘gun’ issue.”