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Safe Schools Central Oregon

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Crisis lines

You do not have to handle this alone. These lines are free and open 24 hours a day.

  • Emergency

    If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.

  • 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

    Free, confidential support 24 hours a day for anyone in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, or worried about someone who is.

  • SafeOregon school safety tip line

    Report a threat, a weapon, bullying or a student who may hurt themselves. Open 24 hours a day, and you can stay anonymous.

  • YouthLine, teen to teen

    For anyone 10 to 24. Trained teens answer from 4 to 10 p.m. Pacific every day, with adults at other hours. Run by Lines for Life, with a call center in Bend.

  • Deschutes County crisis line

    24 hour mental health crisis support, for all ages and at no cost. You can also walk in to the Stabilization Center, 63311 NE Jamison Street, Bend, open 24 hours a day.

  • Crook County crisis line

    Crook County Mental Health answers crisis calls for Prineville and the rest of Crook County.

  • Jefferson County crisis line

    BestCare Treatment Services is the community mental health program for Madras and the rest of Jefferson County.

Save these numbers to your phoneOne tap adds 988, SafeOregon and the county crisis line to your contacts. You can also add this site to your home screen; the numbers then stay available even without a connection.

Secure storage

In 2021, Oregon passed a secure storage law, Senate Bill 554. In plain language:

  • Secure it whenever you are not carrying it or in control of it. Secured means an engaged trigger or cable lock, a locked container, or a locked gun room. It does not count as secured if the key or combination is easy for someone else to get, or if a handgun is left alone in a vehicle where people outside can see it.
  • Tougher penalties if a minor gets access. A violation is a civil violation, with a higher penalty if a minor (under 18) gets an unsecured firearm and the owner knew or should have known that could happen.
  • Civil liability. If an unsecured firearm is used to injure a person or property within two years, the owner can be found negligent in a civil case.

Sources: Giffords Law Center, safe storage in Oregon and the law itself, ORS 166.395. This is a summary, not legal advice.

Why this matters here

In the Secret Service’s study of 41 school attacks, three in four attackers who used a gun took it from the home of a parent or another close relative, and some opened a locked safe because they knew the combination or where the key was (U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center). The far more common loss is suicide: from 2020 to 2024, 61 percent of suicide deaths in Central Oregon involved a firearm (Deschutes County Health Services). One habit, every gun locked with the key or combination kept from kids, protects against both.

Where to get a free gun lock or lockbox

We are confirming each location and its hours, and adding pickup points in Redmond, Prineville, Madras, Sisters, La Pine and Sunriver.

  • Free lockboxes: S.A.F.E. (in Spanish, SEGURO) is run by Deschutes County’s Suicide Prevention Program with the Central Oregon Suicide Prevention Alliance. It gave out more than 1,700 lockboxes across Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties in 2024 and 2025 (Deschutes County). Start at safefirearmstorage.com, in English or Spanish.
  • Free cable locks, as reported by Central Oregon Gun Safety Advocates: Bend Police, 555 NE 15th Street; the Deschutes County Sheriff’s main office, 6333 US-20, Bend (one per person; not at the Sisters, La Pine or Terrebonne substations); Mosaic Medical clinics; COPA clinics, for COPA patients; and the Bend-La Pine Schools Education Center, 520 NW Wall Street, for district families.
  • If someone in your home is in crisis, the safest step is to move the guns out of the house for a while. Oregon law lets you hand a firearm to a close relative (a spouse or partner, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, first cousin, niece or nephew, or their spouse) without a dealer background check, and allows a temporary transfer to anyone to prevent imminent death or serious injury, for only as long as needed (ORS 166.435). For anyone else, go through a licensed dealer. Bend Police has said it will hold a firearm for a person in crisis who has no one else to hold it (The Bulletin). We are confirming this with Bend Police and asking the other police departments and sheriff’s offices. This is a summary, not legal advice.

Extreme Risk Protection Orders

An Extreme Risk Protection Order, or ERPO, is a civil court order. It temporarily stops a person who is at risk of harming themselves or others from having firearms, and requires them to turn in the ones they have.

  • Who can file in Oregon: a family or household member, including a spouse or intimate partner, or a law enforcement officer.
  • How long it lasts: one year, unless the court ends it sooner. A judge can renew it for another year if the person is still at risk.
  • What it costs: nothing. There is no fee to file.
  • Where to file: at the circuit court. Oregon Law Help explains which county.

Sources and forms: Oregon Law Help, Extreme Risk Protection Order, Oregon Judicial Department ERPO forms, the law itself, ORS 166.525 to 166.543, and the Giffords Law Center ERPO summary.

SafeOregon

SafeOregon is Oregon’s statewide school safety tip line, set up by state law under the Oregon State Police. Students, parents, school staff and community members can use it to report a threat, a weapon, bullying, or a student who may hurt themselves or someone else.

A real person answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and you can choose to stay anonymous. SafeOregon is not for emergencies: if someone is in danger right now, call 911.

Sources: SafeOregon and the Oregon Department of Education.

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