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Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 13, 2025
Office of Gun Violence Prevention Act of 2025
This bill establishes an Office of Gun Violence Prevention within the Department of Justice's (DOJ's) Office of Legal Policy.
Among its duties, the office must coordinate various gun violence prevention efforts that are administered by DOJ, recommend policy options to promote evidence-based gun violence prevention strategies, and promote related data collection.
People & committees
Rep. Frost, Maxwell [D-FL-10] · D–FL
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Oct 2, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-13 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Office of Gun Violence Prevention Act of 2025 would create an office within the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy to coordinate the Attorney General's gun violence prevention work and services for victims. Its duties would include research planning, public education, and help for communities responding to shootings. A director appointed by the Attorney General would lead the office and consult an advisory council.
This Act may be cited as the Office of Gun Violence Prevention Act of 2025.
The Attorney General shall establish within the Office of Legal Policy of the Department of Justice the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
The Attorney General shall appoint a Director to be the head of the Office.
The Director, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall coordinate, integrate, and maximize the efficacy of each responsibility, program, and service relating to gun violence prevention administered by the Attorney General to maximize an integrated approach to reducing gun violence and serving victims of gun violence
The Director, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall assess ongoing research efforts of the Department of Justice relating to gun violence to establish a comprehensive research agenda on the causes and solutions of gun violence.
The Director, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall educate the general public about Federal laws, regulations, and grant programs relating to gun violence prevention
The Director, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall assist communities that have experienced gun violence (such as a mass shooting, a school shooting, a gang-related shooting, a domestic violence shooting) with crisis response activities
The bill's definition of gun violence includes firearm-related homicide, violent crime, domestic violence, attempted suicide, suicide, and unintentional death or injury.
The term gun violence includes homicide, violent crime, domestic violence, attempted suicide, suicide, and unintentional death or injury involving a firearm.
The director would have to coordinate the Attorney General's gun violence prevention responsibilities, programs, and services, in consultation with the advisory council. This would include work across Justice Department offices and administration of the national instant criminal background check system. Reducing gun violence and serving victims are stated objectives, not demonstrated outcomes.
The Director, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall coordinate, integrate, and maximize the efficacy of each responsibility, program, and service relating to gun violence prevention administered by the Attorney General to maximize an integrated approach to reducing gun violence and serving victims of gun violence
(A) the responsibilities of the heads of the Criminal and Civil Divisions of the Department of Justice, the Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, each United States Attorney, Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Director of the Office on Violence Against Women, the Director of the Office of Victims of Crime, and the Director of the Office of Justice Programs; and (B) the administration of the national instant criminal background check system established under section 103 of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (34 U.S.C. 40901).
The director, consulting the advisory council, would have to evaluate gun violence prevention laws, regulations, programs, offices, data sources, and grants administered by the Attorney General. The evaluation would examine how to improve, modernize, and coordinate them.
The Director, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall evaluate laws, regulations, Federal programs, offices, data sources, and grant programs relating to gun violence prevention administered by the Attorney General to assess how each such law, regulation, Federal program, office, data source, and grant program can be maximized, modernized, and coordinated to reduce gun violence.
The director would have to recommend legislative and executive policy options to Congress and the President, including ways to implement existing laws, regulations, and grant programs. This duty calls for recommendations; it does not itself adopt those policy options.
The Director shall recommend to Congress and the President legislative and executive policy options to promote evidence-based gun violence prevention strategies, including the implementation of existing laws, regulations, and grant programs.
The director, consulting the advisory council, would have to identify missing data needed for prevention research and policy and develop a plan to collect and analyze it. The director would also assess ongoing Justice Department research to establish a research agenda on the causes and solutions of gun violence.
The Director, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall— (A) identify gaps in available data needed for gun violence prevention research, policy development, and the implementation of evidence-based gun violence prevention strategies; and (B) develop a plan to collect and analyze the data described in subparagraph (A).
The Director, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall assess ongoing research efforts of the Department of Justice relating to gun violence to establish a comprehensive research agenda on the causes and solutions of gun violence.
Public education would cover federal gun violence prevention laws, regulations, and grants. Required campaigns would address firearm owners, parents and legal guardians of minors, and professionals serving people and communities disproportionately affected by gun violence. Topics would include secure firearm storage and suicide prevention.
The Director, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall educate the general public about Federal laws, regulations, and grant programs relating to gun violence prevention, including by conducting education and awareness campaigns— (A) directed at— (i) owners of firearms; (ii) parents and legal guardians of minors; and (iii) professionals who provide services to individuals and communities disproportionately impacted by gun violence; and (B) that include education relating to the secure storage or firearms and suicide prevention.
The director, consulting the advisory council, would have to help communities respond to gun violence. Assistance would include information about and increased access to mental health and suicide prevention services, activities against gun trafficking, and crisis response training for first responders and gun violence prevention offices serving the community.
The Director, in consultation with the Advisory Council, shall assist communities that have experienced gun violence (such as a mass shooting, a school shooting, a gang-related shooting, a domestic violence shooting) with crisis response activities, including providing information about and increasing access to— (A) mental health services for members of the community; (B) anti-gun trafficking activities; (C) crisis response training for first responders and offices of gun violence prevention serving the community; and (D) suicide prevention services for members of the community.
The director would have to coordinate these duties with other federal agencies and commissions that have jurisdiction over gun violence prevention. The bill names agencies covering health, veterans, education, housing, commerce, homeland security, defense, the interior, labor, agriculture, small businesses, consumer product safety, trade, and sentencing.
In carrying out the duties under this subsection, the Director shall coordinate with Federal agencies and commissions that have jurisdiction over gun violence prevention, including— (A) the Department of Health and Human Services; (B) the Department of Veterans Affairs; (C) the Department of Education; (D) the Department of Housing and Urban Development; (E) the Department of Commerce; (F) the Department of Homeland Security; (G) the Department of Defense; (H) the Department of the Interior; (I) the Department of Labor; (J) the Department of Agriculture; (K) the Small Business Administration; (L) the Consumer Product Safety Commission; (M) the Federal Trade Commission; and (N) the United States Sentencing Commission.
Within one year after enactment, and annually afterward, the director would have to report to Congress on gun violence in the United States, recommended policies and legislation, and efforts to carry out the duties in section 3(b).
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Director shall submit to Congress a report that includes— (A) information on the state of gun violence in the United States; (B) recommendations for policy initiatives and legislation to reduce gun violence in the United States; and (C) a description of the efforts of the Director to carry out the duties under this subsection.
The Attorney General would have to convene the advisory council within 180 days after enactment and at least quarterly afterward. The director would chair it. Its membership would include 12 specified Justice Department officials or their designees, covering leadership, law enforcement, victim services, statistics, and research.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than quarterly thereafter, the Attorney General shall convene an advisory council— (A) chaired by the Director; and (B) the membership of which includes the following individuals or a designee of the individual: (i) The Deputy Attorney General. (ii) The Associate Attorney General. (iii) The Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy. (iv) The Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. (v) The Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division. (vi) The Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. (vii) The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (viii) The Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance. (ix) The Director of the Office on Violence Against Women. (x) The Director of the Office of Victims of Crime. (xi) The Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. (xii) The Director of the National Institute of Justice.
The director would have to make every reasonable effort to include at least 12 additional council members. The additional membership would have to include at least one representative from each of ten categories: gun violence survivors, community violence intervention providers, public health officials, trauma care professionals, mental health clinicians, state justice department officials, state or local public health department officials, teachers, student group members, and veterans.
The Director shall make every reasonable effort to include as members of the Advisory Council not fewer than 12 additional individuals.
The additional members described in subparagraph (A) shall include not fewer than 1— (i) survivor of gun violence; (ii) community violence intervention service provider; (iii) public health official; (iv) medical professional who provides trauma care; (v) mental health clinician; (vi) official from a department of justice of a State; (vii) State or local public health department official; (viii) teacher; (ix) member of a student group; and (x) veteran.
The bill would authorize appropriations of whatever sums are necessary to carry out section 3. It specifies no dollar amount and does not itself appropriate money.
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated October 2, 2026, records that the bill was introduced in the House and referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary on February 13, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-10-02T11:09:14Z. 2025-02-13: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. 2025-02-13: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-13. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy rider attached to appropriations was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials. Formal earmark status cannot be established from the supplied source set.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow carve-out, special exemption, or preferential treatment was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. Ordinary program beneficiaries and routine advisory representation alone do not establish such benefits. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Oct 2, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI