Suicide Prevention & Lethal Means Legislation Affecting K-12 Schools and Higher Education in Virginia

Requires K-12 and public college/university threat assessment teams to receive specific training on emergency substantial risk orders and substantial risk orders (Virginia’s “red flag” process), built into their existing annual training requirements.

This connects directly to HB901. HB1071 ensures the people identifying at-risk students or staff are actually trained on how and when to use that legal tool.

Status: Passed the House 64-32 and was signed into law as part of a broader package of school safety and mental health bills, alongside companion measures like HB38 (mental health training for teachers) and HB592 (classroom panic alarms).

This is Virginia’s “red flag law” — the legal process for temporarily taking firearms away from someone who poses an immediate danger.

Who can request one: An attorney for the Commonwealth or a law-enforcement officer petitions a judge or magistrate.

Standard for issuance: The judge or magistrate must find probable cause that the person poses a substantial risk of injuring themselves or others in the near future through possessing or acquiring a firearm. Recent acts of violence, force, or threats — toward others or themselves — are considered as evidence. A petition can’t be filed unless law enforcement has independently investigated and confirmed grounds exist.

What the order does: Prohibits the person from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm. The person must surrender a concealed handgun permit if they have one, and is advised (though not required) to voluntarily hand over any firearms to law enforcement.

Process and rights:

• The order must be under oath and supported by an affidavit
• It must be personally served on the person, who has the right to a hearing and the right to legal counsel
• Information must be entered into the Virginia Criminal Information Network (VCIN) by the end of the business day it’s issued
• Any firearms surrendered must be documented with a written receipt and inventory

Duration: The order expires at 11:59 p.m. on the 14th day after issuance (extended if that day falls when circuit court isn’t in session). The person can file a motion to dissolve the order at any time.

Where filed: In the jurisdiction where the person lives or where the underlying conduct occurred.

This section works together with § 19.2-152.14 (the full hearing for a standard substantial risk order, which follows within 14 days). HB901 expands who can petition and broaden which courts have jurisdiction over this process.

This bill expands and updates Virginia’s “substantial risk order” process — the legal mechanism (often called a “red flag” process) for temporarily removing firearms from someone who poses a danger to themselves or others.

Key changes:

1. More people can petition: Expands the list of who is eligible to file a petition for an emergency substantial risk order.
2. Clearer standards: Adds specific factors a judge or magistrate must consider when deciding whether to issue an emergency or standard substantial risk order.
3. Expanded court jurisdiction: Moves authority over these orders from circuit courts alone to also include juvenile and domestic relations district courts and general district courts. Petitions against minors must be filed in juvenile court.
4. Penalty for false statements: Anyone who knowingly makes a materially false statement to a court during the petitioning process is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

This bill is identical to SB 495 and was signed into law by the Governor.

This new law requires anyone who keeps a firearm in a residence where they know a minor, or a person legally prohibited from possessing firearms, is present to store the firearm and its ammunition in a locked container, compartment, or cabinet inaccessible to that person.

Exception: A firearm may be stored loaded if it’s kept in a biometric storage device, as long as the minor or prohibited person is not an authorized user of that device’s lock.

Penalty: Violating this requirement is a Class 4 misdemeanor.

Additional requirement: Firearms dealers must post a written notice informing the public of the penalty for noncompliance.

This bill is identical to SB 348 and was enrolled following the General Assembly’s reconvened session in April 2026.

This law tightens restrictions on how someone barred from possessing a firearm, due to a protective order or a conviction for assault and battery of a family or household member, can legally get rid of that firearm.

Under current law (before this change): There was no requirement on who the firearm could be transferred to, including age or whether they lived with the prohibited person.

Under the new law:

• The prohibited person may transfer their firearm to someone who is not otherwise barred from possessing it, but only if that person is 21 or older and does not live with the prohibited person
• The prohibited person must inform the court clerk of the name, address, and signature of the transferee (or the licensed dealer or law enforcement agency receiving the firearm), and give the transferee a copy of that form
• The prohibited person must be advised that law enforcement can obtain a search warrant to look for firearms if there’s probable cause they haven’t actually given them up

Status: This bill is identical to SB 38 and was signed into law by the Governor.

The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services is designated as the lead agency for suicide prevention across all age groups. Working in consultation with community services boards, behavioral health authorities, the Department of Health, local health departments, and the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, the Department is responsible for:

• Coordinating suicide prevention activities across state agencies
• Developing and carrying out a comprehensive prevention plan covering public awareness, early identification, intervention, treatment, and survivor support
• Collaborating with federal, state, and local agencies, private organizations, survivor groups, and other stakeholders

The Commissioner must report annually by December 1 to the Governor and General Assembly on the Department’s suicide prevention activities.

This bill expands the responsibilities of the Suicide Prevention Coordinator within the Department of Veterans Services (DVS) in two ways:

1. Data analysis: The Coordinator must compile and analyze data on veteran and military service member suicides using death certificates filed with the State Registrar of Vital Records, with findings included in DVS’s annual report.
2. Program development: The Coordinator must collaborate with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to develop suicide prevention programs and resources specifically for veterans and service members.

To support this work, the State Registrar of Vital Records is required to share information with DVS whenever a veteran’s or service member’s death certificate lists suicide as the manner of death.

When a licensed school employee (teacher, administrator, etc.) learns directly from a student that the student is at imminent risk of suicide, they must, as soon as possible:

1. Contact at least one parent to check whether they’re aware of the student’s mental state and whether they’ve sought or want counseling
2. Provide the parent with suicide prevention materials, which must include information on Virginia’s safe firearm storage law and may include guidance on limiting a student’s access to lethal means (firearms and medications)

Exception: If the student’s suicide risk is related to parental abuse or neglect, the employee must not contact the parent. Instead, they must report to the local or state department of social services immediately, emphasizing the need for urgent action.

Guidelines: The Board of Education, in cooperation with the Departments of Behavioral Health and Health, must develop guidelines to help staff carry out the above. These guidelines must cover how to assess risk, identify warning signs, respond to suicidal students, connect students with community resources, notify parents, and select appropriate prevention materials, including those on safe firearm storage.

School boards must adopt policies giving parents the right to review any audio-visual materials containing graphic sexual or violent content used in anti-bullying or suicide prevention programs.

Before using such materials, schools must give parents written notice of two rights:

1. The right to review the materials.
2. The right to excuse their child from the portion of the program that uses them.

Each school board must have policies for threat assessment teams, following model policies from the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety. Policies must include procedures for referring individuals to mental health services when appropriate.

Team Structure:

• Each school must have a threat assessment team with expertise in counseling, instruction, administration, and law enforcement
• Schools with a school resource officer must include at least one on the team
• New members must complete initial training; all members must complete refresher training every three years
• The division superintendent may also establish a division-level oversight committee

What Teams Do:

• Help students, faculty, and staff recognize threatening or unusual behavior
• Identify who threatening behavior should be reported to
• Implement school board threat assessment policies
• Report activity data to the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety

When a Threat Is Identified: When a team determines a student may pose a threat of violence or harm to themselves or others, they must immediately notify the division superintendent, who must then:

1. Attempt to notify the student’s parent or guardian right away
2. Provide the parent with materials on recognizing warning signs and responding, which must include information on Virginia’s safe firearm storage law and may include guidance on limiting access to lethal means (firearms and medications)

Teams may also access criminal history and health records when assessing a potential threat, but cannot share or use that information beyond the assessment purpose.

Guidelines: The Board of Education, in cooperation with the Departments of Behavioral Health and Health, must develop guidelines for selecting the materials provided to parents.

Virginia already requires teachers and relevant school staff to complete mental health awareness training. This bill adds one new requirement and one guardrail:

New requirement: Training must specifically address the needs of youth populations at high risk of mental health challenges, following evidence-based best practices from the American Psychological Association.

Guardrail: Nothing in the bill or related policies can be used to justify biased or discriminatory treatment of any at-risk youth group.

Requires school divisions to grant excused absences to students who are absent due to mental or behavioral health needs, subject to guidelines established by the Virginia Department of Education. This removes attendance barriers for students seeking mental health care and reduces punitive consequences for students managing mental health crises.

The Department of Education must direct school boards to encourage their schools to promote or use the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline as a resource for students experiencing bullying or cyberbullying.

The School Health Services Committee, working with the Department of Education, must study annual mental health screenings for middle and high school students and recommend best practices using evidence-based tools. Findings must be included in the Committee’s annual report.

When a minor K–12 student is discharged from inpatient treatment, two disclosure scenarios apply:

1. Optional disclosure (parent opt-in): If the facility determines the student will need additional educational services after discharge, parents may choose to have that determination shared with a mental health professional at the student’s school or school division.
2. Required disclosure: If the facility determines — based on what the student communicated during treatment — that the student poses a specific and immediate threat of serious injury or death to an identified person or persons at the time of discharge, the facility must share that determination with a school or school division mental health professional.

In either case, facilities may not delay a student’s discharge simply for the purpose of making these disclosures.

This bill requires school boards to annually notify parents via email and text about two things:

1. The importance of securely storing prescription drugs in the home
2. Parents’ legal responsibility to safely store any firearms in the home

Each notification must also include relevant Virginia laws on safe firearm storage and child access, plus current statistics on youth firearm fatalities from the CDC or a comparable national source. School boards must make these notifications available in multiple languages on their websites.

This law makes it a crime to possess weapons on school grounds, with penalties scaled to the type of weapon and intent.

Other weapons (stun guns, knives over 3 inches, etc.): Knowingly possessing these on school property, at school-sponsored events, or on a school bus is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Firearms: Knowingly possessing a firearm in the same locations is a Class 6 felony.

Firearms used or displayed threateningly inside a school building: If someone possesses a firearm inside a school building and intends to use it, attempts to use it, or displays it in a threatening manner, it’s a Class 6 felony with a mandatory minimum 5-year prison sentence, served consecutively to any other sentence.

Covered locations: Child day centers and public, private, or religious preschools, elementary, middle, and high schools (property, buildings, grounds, school-sponsored events, and school buses). For day centers and preschools, restrictions apply only during operating hours and don’t apply to a resident of the property who possesses a weapon in their own residence.

Key exemptions: This law doesn’t apply to school curriculum or activities, food-prep knives used for their purpose, school- or school-authorized programs, law enforcement, trade-related knives, unloaded firearms in closed containers in vehicles, concealed handgun permit holders in vehicles in school parking areas, authorized school security officers, and licensed armed security officers hired by private/religious schools or day centers.

School boards may designate certain properties as gun-free zones, beyond what’s already required under the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. This applies to buildings or property the school board owns or leases where employees regularly work, located outside designated school zones (which already have separate firearm restrictions).

On designated gun-free property, school boards may prohibit anyone from knowingly purchasing, possessing, transferring, carrying, storing, or transporting firearms, ammunition, or related components.

Exemptions:

• Concealed handgun permit holders with a concealed handgun in a vehicle while in a parking lot or other area used to enter/exit the property
• Law enforcement officers
• Qualified retired law enforcement officers
• Anyone with an unloaded firearm in a closed container in a vehicle, or an unloaded shotgun/rifle in a vehicle firearm rack

In compliance with the federal Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994, school boards must expel any student found to have possessed a firearm, destructive device, firearm silencer/muffler, or pneumatic gun on school property or at a school-sponsored activity, for a minimum of one year (365 days).

Flexibility built in: A school administrator or school board may determine that special circumstances warrant no discipline, a different disciplinary action, or a different expulsion length, based on the specific facts. School boards may set guidelines for what counts as “special circumstances,” and may authorize the division superintendent to conduct a preliminary review of these cases.

State responsibilities: The Board of Education administers related federal funding and requires school boards to update their conduct policies and report annually on schools involved, number of students expelled, and types of firearms involved.

JROTC carve-out: Schools with JROTC programs cannot prohibit marksmanship training, including training with pneumatic guns, as a normal part of those programs.

Exemptions: Concealed weapon exemptions under existing law apply here too. The law also doesn’t apply to firearms or pneumatic guns used as part of school curriculum or school-sponsored programs, or to law enforcement officers performing their duties.

Key definitions:

• “Firearm” includes any weapon (including a starter gun) that can expel a projectile via combustion, but excludes pneumatic guns
• “School property” means any real property or vehicle owned, leased, or operated by the school board

The Virginia Department of Health is designated as the lead agency for youth suicide prevention in the Commonwealth. Working in consultation with the Departments of Education and Behavioral Health, community services boards, and local health departments, the Department is responsible for:

• Coordinating suicide prevention activities across state agencies
• Developing comprehensive prevention strategies covering public awareness, early identification, intervention, treatment, and survivor support
• Tailoring strategies to the specific needs of children and adolescents
• Collaborating with federal, state, and local agencies, private organizations, survivor groups, and other stakeholders

This designation does not limit the prevention-related roles of other state agencies.

All public institutions must:

• Develop policies to advise students, faculty, and staff (including residence hall staff) on how to identify and respond to students showing suicidal tendencies or behavior
• Require procedures for notifying the institution’s student health or counseling center when a student exhibits suicidal tendencies or behavior
• Require resident assistants in student housing to complete Mental Health First Aid training (or similar) before starting their duties
• Require intercollegiate athletics coaches to complete Mental Health First Aid training (or similar) within one year of starting their duties

Baccalaureate institutions must also:

• Ensure students affected by a peer suicide have access to medical, behavioral health, and postvention services (services designed to support grieving, stabilize the environment, and prevent suicide contagion)
• Establish written memoranda of understanding with local community services boards, hospitals, and mental health facilities to expand treatment options for students, including designating a contact person to be notified when a student is involuntarily committed or discharged, and including the institution in post-discharge planning for students returning to campus
• Maintain a dedicated webpage listing all mental health resources available to students

Every public college and university must:

Physical ID cards: Print “988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline” and the institution’s emergency services webpage URL conspicuously on each card. A QR code linking to that page may also be included. The 988 contact information must be reviewed annually for accuracy.

Digital ID cards: Include “988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline” and the emergency services webpage URL alongside other student resources. Contact information must also be reviewed annually.

Emergency services webpage: Maintain and annually update a webpage listing phone numbers for:

• The institution’s sexual assault crisis center partner and the National Sexual Assault Hotline
• Local law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services
• Campus police, security, and student health services

This 2011 Virginia Supreme Court decision in DiGiacinto v. Rector and Visitors of George Mason University upheld GMU’s regulation restricting firearms inside campus buildings and at campus events, finding it appropriately tailored to the places where people congregate and are most vulnerable. The court held that public universities have the authority to adopt such restrictions under their existing statutory powers to govern campus affairs, and that this does not violate the right to bear arms under either the Virginia or U.S. Constitution.

At the time, this case was the primary legal basis for individual institutions to restrict campus firearms, since Virginia had no single statute imposing a uniform ban. That changed in 2026, when Virginia enacted a statewide law banning firearms inside the buildings of public colleges and universities, with an exception for firearms possessed as part of approved curriculum or activities (Va. Code § 18.2-283.2(B), (E)).

Today, campus firearm restrictions rest on two pillars: the DiGiacinto precedent, which confirms institutions’ authority to adopt their own tailored building- and event-specific restrictions, and Virginia’s 2026 statute, which now imposes a baseline statewide rule directly.

This federal law created two grant programs to fund youth suicide prevention, both administered through SAMHSA.

State Grants (§ 596A) Competitive grants to states, tribes, and designated nonprofit organizations to develop and implement statewide or tribal youth suicide early intervention and prevention strategies. Grant-funded activities must be integrated across schools, juvenile justice systems, substance abuse and mental health programs, foster care systems, and other youth-serving organizations. Priority is given to states with youth suicide rates significantly above the national average. At least 85% of grant funds must support direct services.

Campus Grants (§ 596B) Competitive 3-year grants to colleges and universities to create or expand mental and behavioral health services for students. Funds may be used for prevention, screening, early intervention, assessment, treatment, and education related to depression, substance abuse, and suicide. Institutions may also use funds to hire trained staff, educate families, and evaluate and share best practices. At least 75% of funds must support direct services; no more than 5% may go to administrative costs; funds may not be used for construction or renovation.

Key Requirements for Campus Grantees:

• Supplement, not replace, existing funding sources
• Submit annual reports on fund use and program outcomes
• Coordinate campus mental health efforts with other existing programs and services

This is the law that created 988. Signed on October 17, 2020, it amended the Communications Act of 1934 to designate 9-8-8 as the universal three-digit telephone number for the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system, covering both the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Veterans Crisis Line.

Key provisions:

988 Designation: The FCC was directed to make 988 the official dialing code, with all phone service providers required to route 988 calls accordingly by July 16, 2022.

High-Risk Populations: The law explicitly recognized several groups at elevated suicide risk and required SAMHSA to be equipped to serve them, including LGBTQ youth (more than 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide than peers, with over 1 in 3 transgender youth reporting a suicide attempt) and American Indian and Alaska Native populations (the highest suicide rate of any racial or ethnic group, having increased 139% since 1999).

State Funding Authority: States were authorized to establish telecommunications fees on phone bills to fund 988 operations, similar to how 911 is funded.

Accountability: The FCC was required to submit annual reports to Congress detailing the status of 988 fee collection and expenditure in each state and tribal jurisdiction.

Passage: The bill passed both chambers and was signed into law with broad bipartisan support.

Enacted December 29, 2022 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, this law reauthorized and expanded a range of federal behavioral health programs. Key provisions relevant to K-12 and higher education:

Mental Health Awareness Training Grants: Reauthorized grants supporting Mental Health First Aid training for teachers, emergency services personnel, law enforcement, and others who work with children and adults experiencing mental health crises.

988 Lifeline: Reauthorized the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline through FY2027 at approximately $101.6 million per year, and authorized a pilot program to explore new outreach technologies (social media, texting, email) for suicide prevention — channels particularly relevant to youth populations.

Adult Suicide Prevention Grants: Reauthorized the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and Zero Suicide grant programs at $30 million per year through FY2027, supporting states and community partners — including campus programs — in implementing evidence-based prevention strategies.

Crisis Care Coordination: Required SAMHSA to identify best practices for follow-up care for individuals at risk for suicide discharged from emergency departments, with implications for campus health and counseling centers managing students in crisis.

This is the core federal gun law statute. It’s long and covers many transactions, but here are the most relevant provisions:

Who is prohibited from possessing or receiving firearms (subsection g): Federal law bars firearm possession by people who:

• Have been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison
• Are a fugitive from justice
• Unlawfully use or are addicted to a controlled substance
• Have been adjudicated as a “mental defective” or committed to a mental institution
• Are subject to certain domestic violence protective orders, or have been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence
• Were dishonorably discharged from the military, among other categories

This applies nationwide to any firearm transaction, not tied to schools or campuses.

School zones (subsection q): K-12 only. It’s federally unlawful to knowingly possess a firearm in a place known as a “school zone,” with exceptions for licensed concealed carry, unloaded/locked firearms, and school-approved programs. Critically, “school zone” is defined elsewhere in the statute as the grounds of, or area within 1,000 feet of, a school providing elementary or secondary education. This does not extend to colleges or universities. States may still enact their own additional restrictions, which is exactly what Virginia did for higher ed with its 2026 law banning firearms inside public college and university buildings (§ 18.2-283.2).

Secure storage requirement at point of sale (subsection z): Licensed dealers must provide a secure gun storage or safety device with every handgun sale, with narrow exceptions. Applies to all sales nationwide, not school-specific. Relevant to safe storage messaging and firearm storage law notifications.

Juveniles and handguns (subsection x): It’s unlawful to transfer a handgun or handgun ammunition to anyone under 18, and unlawful for a juvenile to possess one, with exceptions for supervised activities like hunting, target practice, or farm/ranch work with parental consent. Based on the buyer’s age, not on proximity to any school.

Background checks (subsections s, t): Establishes the framework for what became the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), requiring licensed dealers to run background checks before most firearm transfers. Also nationwide and not school-specific.

Notable connection: The statutory notes for this section include the findings behind the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2008, passed directly in response to the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. Congress found that the shooter had a documented mental health history that should have disqualified him under § 922(g)(4), but a gap in information-sharing between Virginia and the federal background check system let the sale go through. This event sits in the legislative lineage connecting Virginia’s threat assessment and mental health reporting laws (like § 19.2-152.13 and the threat assessment team statutes) to federal policy.

This federal law requires states receiving K-12 education funding to enforce a one-year minimum expulsion for any student who brings or possesses a firearm at school. It applies only to elementary and secondary education — there’s no higher education component.

Key requirements on states:

• Must have a state law requiring local school districts to expel a student for at least one year for bringing/possessing a firearm
• Must allow the district’s chief administering officer to modify the expulsion on a case-by-case basis, but only in writing
• Must report annually on compliance, including the number of students expelled and types of firearms involved

Key requirements on local school districts:

• Comply with the one-year expulsion law
• Provide an assurance of compliance to the state
• Adopt a policy referring any student who brings/possesses a firearm to the criminal justice or juvenile delinquency system

Important details:

• Private schools aren’t directly covered, but private school students participating in federally funded programs (like Title I) can lose access to those programs for a year
• Case-by-case exceptions must be in writing and can’t be used to broadly evade the one-year rule; students with disabilities are handled consistent with IDEA and Section 504
• Definition of “firearm” follows 18 U.S.C. § 921 — covers guns, silencers, and destructive devices, but excludes knives and antique firearms
• Exemptions exist for firearms lawfully locked in a vehicle on school property, or for school-authorized activities (like rifle clubs or hunting programs) if the district has adopted safety safeguards and given advance notice
• Due process applies — expulsion can only happen after notice and an opportunity to be heard
• The expulsion requirement applies anywhere under the school district’s control and supervision, not just inside the school building

This is the federal law that Virginia’s § 22.1-277.07 was written to implement at the state level.

Signed into law in the wake of the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings, this was the first major federal gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years. It combines new firearm restrictions with significant mental health and school safety funding.

Mental health professional training and pipeline: Creates a $500 million Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program — competitive grants supporting partnerships between school districts and institutions of higher education to train and deploy school-based mental health service providers, including placing graduate students completing fieldwork and internships in schools.

Project AWARE: Directs $240 million over four years to state educational agencies, partnering with state mental health agencies, to fund school-based mental health programs. Project AWARE trains teachers and school staff to detect and respond to students’ mental health challenges and connect youth and families to services.

Mental Health Awareness Training: Provides $120 million over four years to fund nonprofits teaching school staff, community members, and first responders how to recognize and respond to people experiencing mental health crises.

988 Lifeline: Appropriates $150 million to support implementation of the newly launched 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

School-based mental health staffing: Provides $500 million through a separate School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program to increase the number of qualified mental health providers serving students in high-need districts.

State crisis intervention / red flag laws: Provides $750 million over five years for states to create or enhance crisis intervention programs, including red flag law programs and mental health, drug, or veterans’ courts — directly relevant to Virginia’s substantial risk order system we covered earlier (§§ 19.2-152.13, HB901).

Background checks for buyers under 21: Requires NICS to check additional record systems, including state criminal history, juvenile justice repositories, and mental health records, for buyers ages 18-20, with a delay of up to 10 business days allowed if a possible disqualifying juvenile record needs further investigation.

K-12 funding restriction: Prohibits federal K-12 funding from being used to provide anyone with, or train anyone to use, a dangerous weapon.

Domestic violence (“boyfriend loophole”): Closes the so-called “boyfriend loophole” by extending firearm restrictions tied to domestic violence convictions to dating partners, not just spouses or cohabitants.

Introduced weeks after the Parkland, Florida high school shooting, this bipartisan bill amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to revise and reauthorize through FY2028 the Secure Our Schools grant program, which provides grants to states, local governments, and Indian tribes to improve school security.

Key provisions:

• Authorizes $75 million a year through FY2028 for the Secure Our Schools grant program, refocused more explicitly on preventing student violence rather than just physical security hardware
• Funds schools to develop “threat assessment systems” in line with FBI and Secret Service recommendations, aiming to identify and intervene before violence occurs — directly related to the threat assessment team provisions in Virginia law (§§ 22.1-79.4, HB1071)
• Funds anonymous reporting systems for students, teachers, or others to alert law enforcement about potential threats
• Shifts program oversight from the Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and broadens eligible activities from primarily physical deterrents (like metal detectors) to evidence-based violence prevention strategies and programs more generally

Status: The House passed this bill 407-10, but it was never passed by the Senate and was not enacted as a standalone law. However, its core provisions were folded into and enacted as part of the STOP School Violence Act signed into law in March 2018 (as part of that year’s omnibus appropriations package). The program it created is the same “STOP School Violence” grant program later referenced and funded again in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act ($300 million over five years).

This bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Jim Banks (R-IN), would require middle and high schools to print crisis line contact information on student ID cards — specifically the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the Crisis Text Line, and a state or local hotline selected by the school, if available.

Schools that do not issue physical ID cards, or for which cost or administrative burden is a barrier, may instead publish the information on a publicly accessible school website.

The bill has bipartisan cosponsors including Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) and is notable as a federal analog to Virginia’s existing requirement that public colleges and universities print 988 on student ID cards.

This bipartisan House bill, led by Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) with Republican cosponsors, aims to expand awareness of the 988 Lifeline among teens and young adults through two provisions:

1. 988 on ID cards: Clarifies in federal law that 988 can be printed on driver’s licenses and student identification cards, creating a nationwide pathway for what several states (including Virginia) have already done on their own.
2. Student-led outreach via GLS grants: Expands allowable uses of Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act grants to support student-led early intervention and outreach efforts on campuses.

Awareness of 988 remains low among young people. Active Minds, a prominent youth mental health advocacy organization, noted that the legislation grew directly out of a student-led initiative to put 988 on campus ID cards.

The bill complements the RAYS Act introduced in the Senate the same month, which takes a similar approach focused on middle and high schools.

The bill responds to a documented 52% increase in youth suicide rates between 2000 and 2021, with suicide now the second leading cause of death for ages 10-24.

What it does — two grant programs plus a resource hub:

1. Health care provider training (Sec. 2): Authorizes HHS grants to establish or expand programs training current health care providers in evidence-aligned practices to reduce youth suicide. Training content must cover, among other things: racial and ethnic disparities in suicide and self-harm attempts; methods and means used in suicide attempts and best practices for safety, including safety plans; state and federal firearm laws; communication strategies for discussing those laws with at-risk individuals and their families; and procedures for referring at-risk individuals to other providers or crisis resources. Authorizes $20 million for FY2027–2030.

2. School curricula grants (Sec. 3): Beginning within a year of enactment, HHS would award grants to eligible schools to develop and integrate suicide prevention and lethal means safety content into school curricula and continuing education programs.

3. Centralized resource database: Creates a centralized database of best-practice resources for at-risk youth, families, medical and nursing schools, and health care providers.

The bill funds training for current and future health care providers so they can recognize youth suicide risk and counsel families on safely storing firearms and other dangerous items, paired with a public website of evidence-based guidance. This is essentially proposing federal funding to scale lethal means counseling training channeled through health care provider education and medical/nursing school curricula rather than K-12 or higher-ed campus settings.

Status: Introduced and referred to committee; no further action yet. Not enacted.

Introduced on the 19th anniversary of the Virginia Tech shooting, this bill would take a series of gun violence prevention measures already enacted in Virginia and apply them nationally. Relevant provisions:

• Preventing firearm access to minors: Holds individuals liable for leaving a loaded, unsecured gun where a minor could access it — a federal version of the safe storage law.
• Lucia’s Law: Creates criminal liability for a caregiver who knowingly gives a child access to a firearm when aware the child is a danger to themselves or others.
• Extreme Risk Protection Orders: Establishes a federal “red flag” process and incentivizes states to implement their own ERPO laws and court protocols — the federal analog to Virginia’s substantial risk order system (§ 19.2-152.13, HB901).
• Mental Healthcare Facility Zones: Creates a gun-free zone within 1,000 feet of a hospital or mental health/developmental services facility — modeled on the existing K-12 school zone concept.
• Higher education campus safety: Prohibits firearm possession in public college and university buildings unless used for an approved educational purpose or public safety support — a federal version of Virginia’s 2026 campus building ban (§ 18.2-283.2).
• Domestic violence firearm relinquishment: Creates a grant program incentivizing states to confirm that firearms are actually surrendered by people newly prohibited from possessing them due to domestic violence convictions or protective orders.