Critics are accusing the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention of watering down the role guns play in suicides because of the group's partnership with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents firearms manufacturers.

Firearms were used in nearly half of all suicides in the U.S. in 2015, according to AFSP. In addition, gun-control advocates point to research indicating firearms are driving an increase of suicides in the U.S., when the number of suicides in most other developed countries is declining.

AFSP partnered with NSSF in 2016 to educate gun owners about suicide risks. However, critics say the actual result has been a muzzling of information about the link between suicides and gun ownership.

"The suicide prevention nonprofit won't be talking about the well-known risks of firearm ownership any longer," gun-control advocate Tom Zoellner said in a Los Angeles Times op-ed. "The suicide prevention foundation's chapters in all 50 states have since been forbidden to discuss the role of firearms in suicide (apart from promoting the new partnership with the gun industry trade association) or engage in any public outreach that might imply contact or cooperation with any groups, especially the Brady Campaign and Women Against Gun Violence." http://bit.ly/2iqLUrk

AFSP is seeking to reduce the U.S. suicide rate by 20 percent by 2025. To accomplish that goal, the group knew it had to reach gun owners, AFSP CEO Robert Gebbia told The Mighty, a news site covering mental health issues.

"In essence, if you're going to own a gun, you should be educated about suicide prevention. With that energy, we came across NSSF," Gebbia said. http://bit.ly/2yULFLp

AFSP has elected to remain neutral on issues of gun control, he said. That response has not pleased some advocates of gun control and suicide prevention. During an October suicide prevention rally in San Diego, the foundation permitted the distribution of NSSF pamphlets on gun-safety tips but prohibited gun-control advocates from passing out their own literature.

"We have educational gun safety programs that are non-political that we hoped to share. We were never going to be pushing politics," Wendy Wheatcroft, head of the San Diego chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, told the news organization Voice of San Diego. http://bit.ly/2mAch2O

NSSF did not respond to The Mighty's request for comment about its partnership with AFSP. But in a January news release, the association noted that nearly two-thirds of firearms deaths in the U.S. in 2015 were suicides.

"Our partnership with AFSP allows us to expand our decades-long firearms safety efforts to include suicide prevention education," NSSF CEO Steve Sanetti said. "As the industry's trade association with more than 12,000 members, we want to help. By making gun owners and the public more aware of suicide and responsible firearm storage, we are confident that we will help save lives." http://bit.ly/2zQojbe

MORE CEO DATELINE

• Associations react to Cordray departure
• NAM campaign targets ‘activist' lawsuits, news media
• Medical, insurance groups decry health care provision in tax bill
• Employer groups call on Congress for immigration action
• Coffee group scalded for Dubai events