Denver nonprofit aims to bridge behavioral health and gun ownership solutions to help curb violence
Denver resident Amanda Hardin stays busy these days, from her day-to-day job to her nonprofit work.
"I'm a registered nurse to layer everything on each other so I started looking at the intersection of safety, of mental health, of firearm ownership," she explained to CBS Colorado.
A firearm owner herself, Hardin founded the Mind & Safety Institute in order to introduce practical solutions for responsible firearm holders. While an advocate of the Second Amendment, Hardin says that there is a knowledge gap that needs to be bridged and better understanding about how mental health and gun ownership intersect.
"Everyone wants the same outcome," she said. "We all want safety. We all want responsibility. We're all going about it in different ways and it's causing a lot of friction."
The Mind & Safety Institute offers classes and courses to organizations like the Lakewood Police Department and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention on everything from the use of gun safes to safety plans and firearm informed treatment.
"How do we have better conversations about unauthorized access, safety and how do we build a firearm safety plan?" said Hardin. "We supply them with handouts, tools, websites they can send people to."
Over the course of the last two months, the United States has been rocked by several high-profile gun violence incidents. In Colorado, the school shooting at Evergreen High School in mid-September prompted widespread calls for change from students. At nearby Conifer High School, hundreds of students walked out of class to protest the violence that happened just down the road. Many students told CBS Colorado that they weren't marching to take guns away from people but to try and prod a response on the idea that something needs to change for them to feel safe in school. Hardin's work is rooted in the same desire.
"This is about saving lives," she said, "This isn't about taking sides."
