Suicide Prevention Walk Organizers Deny Participation to Brady Campaign, Moms Demand Action

Organizers of a suicide prevention walk planned for this Saturday in San Diego are denying participation to the Brady Campaign and Michael Bloomberg-funded Moms Demand Action.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Jessica van der Stad said Moms Demand Action’s “legislative stance related to guns is inconsistent with our efforts” and the area foundation’s chair told the Brady Campaign they cannot use the event to promote themselves.

According to the Voice of San Diego, Van der Stad spoke up after Moms Demand attempted to secure a booth at the suicide prevention walk. She said, “As a suicide prevention organization, we are not in the business of saying who can and cannot own firearms. We are in the business of saving lives.” Foundation chair Che Hernandez informed the Brady Campaign that they could not promote themselves after the gun control said they planned to participate in the walk while wearing their “standard” gun control t-shirts.

Hernandez emailed the Brady Campaign, saying, “Upon consulting with our National leadership we still are unable to have the Brady Campaign / Moms Demand Action promote itself at our community events. We value the work you are doing to create awareness around the effects of firearms in our communities as it relates to suicide means. And you rightly point to the possibility of our walker guests being negatively affected by any depiction of guns, printed word, etc.” She then pointed out that the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is in a suicide reduction partnership with the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). Despite this partnership, NSSF will not have a booth at Saturday’s walk, but pamphlets created via the partnership will be available.

Voice of San Diego notes that the Brady Campaign was previously barred from a suicide prevention event in Auburn, CA, and in Los Angeles as well.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com