As Texans, we pride ourselves on our resilience and strength. Yet, we face a silent public health crisis that demands our immediate attention: suicide.

Click here to find all the tools you need to take action for common sense gun safety.

The public health approach to gun violence prevention adopts a systematic and evidence-based framework by drawing upon principles typically applied in addressing other public health challenges.

Unsecured firearms in the home can result in suicides, homicides, and unintentional shootings.

Texas experienced one of the deadliest school shootings in United States history in 2022 when a gunman murdered 19 children and two educators and injured 14 others at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

We know that creating stronger vetting requirements to purchase semi-automatic rifles like AR-15s is a necessary step for making Texas safer.

Texas should join other states that have adopted an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law, allowing civil court judges to temporarily remove firearms from individuals threatening to harm themselves or others.

Texas should ensure domestic abusers prohibited from possessing firearms by law do not have access to them. A comprehensive statewide protocol for the relinquishment of firearms would make our existing laws more effective and prevent domestic homicides.

The state should invest in community violence intervention by creating a statewide office of violence prevention and supporting local community violence intervention programs.

Suicide is preventable. In taking efforts to prevent gun access to those at risk of suicide, Texas can save lives.

Seventy-eight percent of Texas voters support strengthening background checks, recognizing that we must do more to keep guns out of the hands of individuals with dangerous histories.