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In a move that officials touted as the most significant increase in American gun regulation in decades, the Justice Department has finalized rules to close a loophole that allowed people to sell firearms online, at gun shows and at other informal venues without conducting background checks on those who purchase them. Vice President Harris and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland celebrated the rules and said they would keep firearms out of the hands of potentially violent people who are not legally allowed to own guns. (Stein, 4/11)

The shooting of an elementary teacher by a 6-year-old student in Newport News, Va., last year was preceded by a “shocking” series of lapses by the school’s assistant principal at the time, according to a report by a special grand jury that was released on Wednesday. Despite having been told that same day that the student was “in a violent mood,” and having received several reports that he was carrying a firearm, the assistant principal turned down a school counselor’s request for permission to search the student, the grand jury said in its report. (Schwartz, 4/10)

New legal approaches and laws are widening the scope of accountability for those who not only pull triggers, but also for educators, parents and others who fail to report red flags. Prosecutors and lawmakers are increasingly taking aim at people who could have taken steps before innocent victims were maimed or killed. "As far as I know, this is really groundbreaking," said James Ellenson, a lawyer for Deja Taylor, the mother of the 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia, speaking about the criminal charges against the school official in the case. A special grand jury released a report Wednesday outlining failures by the school administration. (Jimenez, Trethan and Nguyen, 3/11)

Activist groups are using a typical advocacy tool — voicemails to members of Congress — with a new, uncomfortable twist: They’re from the deceased victims of gun violence, generated by artificial intelligence. TheShotline.org, a gun reform campaign by March for Our Lives and Change the REF, is asking constituents nationwide to send representatives in their zip code the AI-generated phone calls. ... “I want these politicians to sit there and listen,” said Brett Cross, a father of one of the victims featured on Shotline.org, “I want them to imagine that that's their children's voices, because they didn't do anything to prevent countless children being slaughtered.” (Padilla, 4/9)

Suicide rates among people of all ages in the United States have increased over the past two decades, making it a serious public health problem. Among US college athletes, suicide is now the second leading cause of death after accidents — and rates have doubled from 7.6% to 15.3% over the past 20 years, according to a study published April 4 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. (Rogers, 4/10)

Human brains are gradually getting bigger, decade by decade, potentially lowering people’s risk of developing age-related dementia, according to a recent study published by Alzheimer’s researchers at UC Davis Health. People born in the 1970s have more brain volume and more brain surface area than people born in the 1930s, according to the study, published March 25 in JAMA Neurology. (Ho, 4/10)