House passes active shooter alert bill with bipartisan vote

The U.S. House passed bipartisan legislation on Wednesday night that would help state and local governments set up a warning system for active shooter situations, and enhance law enforcement’s communication with the public in such emergencies.

It would be similar in operation to the Amber Alert system that’s deployed whenever a child is abducted.

The legislation, approved by a vote of 260-169, was originally introduced in February but gained new urgency following the deadly mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y.; Uvalde, Texas; and Highland Park, Ill. In the wake of those massacres, Congress last month approved a package of gun-safety measures that comprised the most significant firearms regulations in three decades.

The legislation — sponsored by Reps. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Fred Upton, R-Mich. — would require the attorney general to designate a Justice Department official charged with coordinating the planning and design of a system for multilingual alerts to anyone who might be near a gunman.

“Active shooter emergencies have become so common that we barely even register them anymore; we’ve become numb to them,” Cicilline said on the House floor. “We cannot let this become normal.”

The bill was endorsed by numerous law enforcement organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police and National Sheriffs’ Association. But many Republicans considered it an encroachment on the rights of gun owners and opposed it.

“This bill is about Democrat fear mongering that guns are an ever-present threat, and we cannot be safe until big government rounds up every last one of them,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said during debate.

Forty-three Republicans voted for the bill, which now awaits approval by the Senate.