On July 27, U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1), Jared Moskowitz (FL-23), Tony Gonzales (TX-23), and Don Davis (NC-1) joined parents of the Parkland school shooting victims—Lori Alhadeff, Max Schachter, and Tony Montalto—to introduce new bipartisan school safety legislation to require silent panic alarms in public schools nationwide and invest in school resource officers.
Fourteen-year-olds Alyssa Alhadeff, Alex Schachter, and Gina Montalto were among the 17 victims killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Seventeen other victims were injured.
The bipartisan Alyssa’s Legacy Youth in School Safety Alert (ALYSSA) Act of 2023 would require silent panic alarms in all public schools to immediately alert law enforcement of an active shooter situation. Several states, including Florida, New Jersey, and New York, have already passed their own versions of the legislation.
The bipartisan Strengthening Our Schools (SOS) Act of 2023 would increase investment in more well-trained school resource officers so that every school has a first responder already on the campus in the event of a critical incident.
According to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics, only 40% of schools report using silent alarms that are directly connected to local law enforcement. In 2022 alone, more than 270 people were fatally shot or wounded on school grounds, up from 159 in 2018. Just this year, there have been 134 people fatally shot or wounded on school grounds.
“Seconds save lives. The quicker you can stop the killing, the quicker you will stop the dying,” said Max Schachter with Safe Schools for Alex. “I believe that with a panic app and better-trained law enforcement, Alex, Alyssa, and Gina would still be alive today.”
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