Walk the Talk America: Gun Industry Supports Mental Health Awareness

America’s gun owners and the industry that serves us can make the difference that “red flag” laws won’t.

Walk the Talk America (WTTA) is a charitable group that’s working to bring the gun industry and mental-health professionals together to prevent suicide and improve mental health–and today, we’ve learned that another major industry leader has pledged its support. Armscor International, the parent company of Rock Island Armory, has partnered with Walk the Talk America with an ongoing monthly donation.

WTTA’s message is simple but crucial: “Gun owners, firearm sellers, and mental health professionals must band together to protect the rights of all citizens and reduce the number of deaths by suicide. Walk The Talk America believes that by raising awareness and sharing accurate information, we can reach suffering individuals and let them know that they can seek help without consequence in most states. We can pave the way for those in need to gain access to treatment. We can save lives. We can shield their friends, families, and loved ones from the overwhelming sense of grief, confusion, and emptiness that suicide causes.”

WTTA offers free anonymous mental health screening; click the picture above to visit.

This approach is necessary because many firearms owners who are experiencing mental health symptoms are worried that seeking help will cause them to lose their guns and right to armed self-defense. Walk The Talk America wants to help knock down that barrier…which will absolutely save more lives than any “red flag” law.

“Preventing suicide within the firearm community is something everyone should be able to get behind and I am excited to see what we can do in the coming months and years,” says Mike Sodini, founder of WTTA. “We have slowly and incrementally been gaining support from across the gun community and to have this ongoing contribution really means a lot.”

Armscor’s story is a uniquely American one, in that (like many Americans) it was born overseas but got here as soon as it could. Originally founded in 1905 in the Philippines, entered the United States market in 1985 and operates a manufacturing plant in Pahrump, NV, just 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. These days they produce approximately 110 million rounds of ammunition annually…and they support Walk The Talk America.

Sodini expressed further gratitude and optimism, “We have come a long way in the two years we’ve been around and doing what we have with very limited funding,” he said. “My sincere belief is that other big industry manufacturers and dealers will see Armscor’s commitment and want to help too.”

Walk the Talk America is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and can be contacted at walkthetalkamerica.org.