HR7591-119

What This Bill Does

This bill adds a firearm safety resources subpart to Title IV-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Congress finds that firearm suicides and unintentional firearm injuries are major causes of death among children and teenagers, that nearly 60 percent of gun-related deaths are suicides, that firearms were the leading mechanism of death for youth under 18 in 2022 and 2023, and that most firearms used in youth suicides are family members’ guns. Within one year, the Secretary of Education must develop best practices for secure firearm storage and prevention of firearm-related suicide or unintentional injury, consulting ATF, HHS, CDC, NIH, SAMHSA, DHS, the school-safety clearinghouse, FBI firearms experts, law enforcement, unaffiliated firearm safety nonprofits, educators, and independent experts. The best practices must cover secure storage devices, safety protocol reviews, risks of unsecured firearms, suicide and injury prevention, student instructions for encountering an unsecured firearm, access to free storage devices, federal firearm laws including the Second Amendment, state firearm safety laws and crisis-intervention programs, and academic or nonprofit resources. The Secretary cannot include materials encouraging or discouraging firearm ownership. Education must distribute best practices annually to local educational agencies, notify covered LEAs of their duties, recommend timing, and update the practices after feedback. Covered LEAs must create local guidance with health, violence-prevention, public-safety, mental-health, educator, and local stakeholder input; include mental health resources; remain neutral on firearm ownership; and distribute guidance by email and physical means to students, parents, school staff, and local community members beginning in the 2027-2028 academic year.

Who Benefits and How

Students, parents, school staff, local educational agencies, public-health officials, suicide-prevention organizations, mental-health professionals, and firearm safety educators benefit from standardized, neutral guidance on storage devices, suicide prevention, mental health resources, and how students should respond to unsecured firearms.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Education, covered local educational agencies, schools, educators, public safety officials, mental health professionals, ATF, HHS, CDC, NIH, SAMHSA, DHS, FBI firearms experts, and community organizations must consult, develop, update, localize, and distribute firearm safety guidance.

Key Provisions

• Requires Education to create secure-firearm-storage and firearm-suicide-prevention best practices within one year.
• Directs consultation with ATF, HHS, CDC, NIH, SAMHSA, DHS, FBI firearms experts, law enforcement, educators, nonprofits, and independent firearm safety experts.
• Requires best practices to cover storage devices, safety protocols, suicide risks, student response steps, free storage resources, federal laws, state programs, and expert resources.
• Requires covered local educational agencies to develop local guidance with health, public-safety, mental-health, educator, and community input.
• Requires annual physical and email distribution of local guidance to students, parents, school staff, and community members while remaining neutral on firearm ownership.