United States HR 7591: Secure Firearm Storage and Suicide Prevention Act of 2026

Bill Text

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119TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 7591
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require
certain local educational agencies to distribute guidance to students,
parents, and other local community members regarding firearm safety,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 17, 2026
Mr. GOLDMAN of New York (for himself, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Mr. JOHNSON
of Georgia, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Mr. BELL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CARTER of
Louisiana, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. PETTERSEN,
Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania, Mr. DELUZIO, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Ms.
CROCKETT, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. CRAIG,
and Ms. KELLY of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 to require certain local educational agencies to
distribute guidance to students, parents, and other local
community members regarding firearm safety, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secure Firearm Stor-4
age and Suicide Prevention Act of 2026’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress finds the following: 2
(1) Unintentional injuries and suicides related 3
to firearms are significant causes death among chil-4
dren and teenagers. 5
(2) According to the Centers for Disease Con-6
trol and Prevention— 7
(A) the annual rate of suicide by firearm 8
in the United States increased approximately 9
11 percent from 2019 to 2022, with provisional 10
data suggesting that 2024 may have had the 11
highest rate of gun suicide since at least 1968; 12
(B) nearly 60 percent of all gun-related 13
deaths in the United States are suicides; 14
(C) in 2021, 2022, and 2023, firearm sui-15
cides accounted for approximately 55 percent of 16
all suicide deaths in the United States; 17
(D) in 2023, an average of 75 individuals 18
in the United States died by firearm suicide 19
each day; 20
(E) in 2023, the third leading cause of 21
death in the United States for youth under the 22
age of 18 was suicide; and 23
(F) in both 2022 and 2023, firearms were 24
the leading mechanism of death among youth 25
under the age of 18 in the United States. 26
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(3) According to the Department of Health and 1
Human Services, 79 percent of the firearms used in 2
the suicides of youth under the age of 18 are the 3
guns of family members. 4
(4) Suicide attempts involving firearms are al-5
most always deadly, with 9 out of 10 firearm suicide 6
attempts resulting in death. 7
(5) Education about the importance of proper 8
secure storage of firearms, including the risk of fire-9
arm-related suicide associated with unsecured weap-10
ons, is critical to reducing firearm-related uninten-11
tional injuries and suicides. 12
(6) Implementing firearm safety and education 13
on suicide prevention can foster a culture of respon-14
sible firearm ownership and handling, benefitting 15
both individuals and communities. 16
(7) It can take less than 10 minutes between 17
thinking about suicide and acting on it. Putting bar-18
riers between individuals and lethal means in mo-19
ments of crisis can save lives. 20
(8) Secure storage of firearms is effective in re-21
ducing suicide deaths. 22
SEC. 3. FIREARM SAFETY RESOURCES. 23
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part A of title IV of the Elemen-24
tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 25
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7101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘Subpart 3—Firearm Safety Resources 3
‘‘SEC. 4131. FIREARM SAFETY BEST PRACTICES. 4
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 5
date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall de-6
velop best practices relating to the secure storage of fire-7
arms and the prevention of firearm-related suicide or un-8
intentional injury in consultation with— 9
‘‘(1) the Firearms and Ammunition Technology 10
Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire-11
arms and Explosives; 12
‘‘(2) the Department of Health and Human 13
Services; 14
‘‘(3) the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-15
vention; 16
‘‘(4) the National Institutes of Health; 17
‘‘(5) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health 18
Services Administration of the Department of 19
Health and Human Services; 20
‘‘(6) the Department of Homeland Security; 21
‘‘(7) the Federal Clearinghouse on School Safe-22
ty Evidence-Based Practices established under sec-23
tion 2220D of the Ho