Our Mission

We are losing too many Veterans to suicide, and we have a novel idea that might make an individual THINK TWICE about ending his or her life.

 

We know that temporarily reducing access to firearms is an important way to minimize the risk when someone is experiencing chronic suicidal thoughts. However, members of the military population often view their firearms as an important part of their culture, identity, and safety. They may not choose to hand their firearms to someone for safekeeping during these times.

Given this reality, we believe that it is imperative to develop a way to intervene when one has intent to harm him- or herself and has a firearm within reach.

Mental health professionals have developed a variety of important methods to try to decrease suicide attempts and completions (contracting with patients that they will not harm themselves, providing suicide hotline numbers, making mental health assistance readily available, and developing a “safety plan,” which outlines what to do to distract oneself from suicidal thoughts). All of these efforts are important and essential in their own right, and should not change. However, when impulsively considering suicide, individuals may not be open to calling someone, reporting to a local ER, or consulting his or her safety plan.

 

We believe that an individual might THINK TWICE about ending his or her life if prompted to look at an image of something in his or her life that matters most (spouse, children, parents, pet, battle buddies, religious icon, etc.). Looking at one of these images is likely an effective way to intervene at this critical and incredibly dangerous time.

 

We have partnered with GunSkins®, a leader in do-it-yourself, high performance vinyl wraps that can be applied to firearms for protection and camouflage. GunSkins® has generously created a line for Cover Me Veterans, which consists of camouflage pistol kits with our logo embedded into the patterns. Consistent with our mission, when someone places an order, there is the option to upload a personally relevant and meaningful image. When we receive an order, if a photo is not uploaded, we send the GunSkins kit out to Veterans without a photo. If a photo is uploaded, we apply this image to the chosen pattern, and send the kit. The kits include pre-cut pieces for the left and right sides, and 3 mag skins for the bottom of pistol magazines. There is also an additional piece for the slide or barrel. The kits are generic and allow for the user to trim along the edge of the firearm for a perfect fit. They are easy to install and remove, and leave no residue behind.

OUR SERVICE IS COMPLETELY FREE TO SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS. YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE STRUGGLING TO ORDER, AS DISPLAY OF OUR PRODUCT SPREADS AWARENESS.

In addition to being successful in intervening in near attempts, our product has also been successful in spreading awareness. We hope that the logo, itself, will be associated with our mission and the act of thinking twice. Display of the our logo or product, therefore, may be 1) to help the Veteran if he or she is struggling with suicidal thoughts, or 2) simply a display of support for this important mission. Therefore, it has the POTENTIAL TO CUT THROUGH STIGMA and SAVE LIVES at the same time.

We are a 501.(c)(3) non-profit organization.

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