In a bipartisan vote of 260–169 Wednesday night, the House of Representatives voted to pass H.R.6538, the Active Shooter Alert Act of 2022. The legislation, introduced by Congressman David N. Cicilline (D-RI) and Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI) would create an AMBER Alert like system for active shooter incidents. The Active Shooter Alert Act was one of law enforcement’s top priorities during National Police Week.
The new alert system established under the Active Shooter Alert Act could be deployed during emergency situations like that recently seen in Highland Park, IL when the suspected shooter was at large for 8 hours – providing him the time to drive to Wisconsin and contemplate carrying out another mass shooting. It could also be used in a situation like we saw in April 2022, when a perpetrator was at large for 29 hours after shooting civilians in a Brooklyn, NY subway station. Or like we witnessed in Rhode Island this past February, when a gunman fired hundreds of rounds at Providence Police Officers from his home in a dense residential neighborhood – just a four-minute walk from a public school and a playground.
“Mass shootings have become ubiquitous – so frequent that some of these horrific events barely make headlines – but we cannot become numb to these events. This is not the time to settle for the status quo – we need to act now to make our communities safer, and that means providing law enforcement with resources they need. During active shooter events, law enforcement officers are having to take to social media to communicate with the surrounding community so that no one accidentally walks into the line of fire – this is terribly inefficient and dangerous. Law enforcement needs and deserves better tools than Twitter to communicate with the community and the Active Shooter Alert Act answers that call. This will help ensure that every single Rhode Islander will be better able to keep themselves and their families safe from gun violence,” said Congressman Cicilline.
“This bill is about keeping our communities safe and supporting law enforcement. By alerting the public to an ongoing active shooter threat, we can help folks avoid the area and better enable police and first responders to focus on ending the situation and saving lives. I have heard from our law enforcement and police chiefs that active shooter alerts can be a vital tool to provide accurate, real-time information to our communities, and one they believe will help in these dangerous situations,” said Congressman Upton.
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