Firearms and Suicide
Monday, June 23, 2025
10:00AM - 12:00PM PDT
Explore the intersection of firearm safety and suicide prevention, emphasizing community-driven strategies, secure firearm storage, and tailored interventions for veterans. Learn how collaborative efforts can reduce firearm-related suicides through practical solutions.
Location: Online
Continuing Education: 2 (Awarded through NASW Oregon)
Cost: Free to RVP Volunteers and partnering clinics who are listed in our directory and who have an active MOU with RVP. We also welcome our OR/WA Vet Center and VA staff to join for free.
All other community providers, please pay $29(or apply to become a RVP volunteer provider).
Who Should Attend:
This training is open to all RVP Volunteer Providers, social workers, mental health counselors, and community providers.
What You Will Learn:
This presentation delves into the critical intersection of firearm safety and suicide prevention, with a focus on veterans. Firearms account for 72% of Veteran suicides, a stark contrast to 52% among non-Veteran adults. Given that one in three Veteran firearm owners store at least one firearm unlocked and loaded, addressing this issue is vital. We will explore data showing that reducing access to lethal means, such as through secure firearm storage, significantly lowers suicide risk by creating time and distance between a Veteran in crisis and their firearm.
The session will review Oregon’s gun laws and discuss how they can support suicide prevention efforts. We will examine evidence-based practices for promoting secure firearm storage and demonstrate how community-driven initiatives can save lives. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies to foster safer environments for Veterans and their families.
Learning Objectives:
- Reducing firearm suicide is not about gun control, it saves lives and protects gun rights
- Suicide facts and data
- Firearm death data
- Firearm ownership – who owns guns in Oregon
- Why means used for a suicide attempt matters
- Why second chances at life matter
- How reducing access to lethal means matters
- How to create time and distance between a firearm and a person in crisis
- Suicide myths, warning signs, and tips on how to ask about suicide
- Self-defense firearms – How to keep family members safe from the leading cause of gun death
- Secure storage for firearms – upstream suicide prevention
- Oregon gun laws – secure storage laws in Oregon
- How to reduce youth firearm suicide
CE Faculty
Donna-Marie Drucker works in community mental health and is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Oregon Firearm Safety Coalition, which works alongside the firearm community to prevent firearm suicide. Additionally, Donna- Marie works in suicide prevention/crisis intervention with a focus on preventing suicide in rural and veteran-connected communities. To help reduce Veteran suicide in Oregon, in January 2021, Donna-Marie collaborated with the Veteran community to launch Together With Veterans NW Oregon.
Raised in rural England, Donna-Marie grew up understanding the importance of firearm safety and an appreciation for firearm ownership. Her father is a gunsmith, her husband is a combat Veteran, her brother-in-law works in law enforcement, and Donna-Marie enjoys recreational shooting. Donna-Marie is also a survivor of a youth suicide attempt, which provides her with firsthand knowledge of the pain that brings a person to want to end their life and how the right support in a crisis can save lives.
Want to attend our trainings for free? Become an RVP Volunteer and gain access to free CE trainings and other great benefits! Learn more about volunteering >
Contact: Jennifer Keeling, RVP Director of Retention and Recruitment .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
503-954-2259
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