TW: suicide
Two members of Congress are stepping up efforts to prevent suicide, proposing legislation to fund nets and barriers on bridges.
U.S. Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the Barriers to Suicide Act today which would create grants to help state and local governments address high-risk sites for people in a mental health crisis.
“Research has shown that means restriction is one of the most effective strategies for reducing suicides,” said Beyer.
A five-year, $224 million project that installed nets on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to help prevent suicide has saved multiple lives. In 2024, there were eight deaths that resulted from jumping from the bridge. That number is down from approximately 30 deaths per year in the two decades prior to the installation.
Nationwide, nearly 50,000 people died by suicide in 2023. Nearly 1,300 of those deaths were by falling.
In addition to bridges, the bill would also provide grant funding for other high-risk sites like railways.
Fitzpatrick said in his community, one person suicided by railway and two additional people died “in a brave attempt to save him.”
“It was a devastating loss that shook us to our core,” said Fitzpatrick. “We can’t accept tragedy as the cost of inaction—not when solutions exist.
“We can’t bring back those we lost—but we can act in their memory, and we can save lives with the tools we know work.”
National Alliance on Mental Illness Chief Advocacy Officer Hannah Wesolowski said that the Act would meet “a critical need to prevent suicide by investing in proven strategies to make public spaces safer for people in crisis.”
The Barriers to Suicide Act would establish a competitive grant program for states and localities to apply for federal funding to install nets and barriers on bridges, buildings, parking garages and at rail stations. Project funding would be made eligible under the national highway performance program. This bill would also authorize a study to identify additional strategies to reduce deaths by jumping.
The Barriers to Suicide Act is cosponsored by Reps. Andre Carson, Sharice Davids, Marcy Kaptur Betty McCollum, Gwen Moore, Seth Moulton, Jamie Raskin, Shri Thanedar, Lori Trahan and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
It is endorsed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, the American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists, the Kennedy Forum and the National Association of Social Workers.
If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org
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Crystal Graham
