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Over the past few decades, so much about daily life in our nation has changed, especially for teenagers and children. Young people are dealing with so many new challenges and fears that are affecting their mental health. Unfortunately, being a victim of a school shooting has become a real fear for many of our students.
Many parents are terrified that one day, their child could be a victim of one of these tragic events. They dread receiving a text, a call, or a news alert that there is an active shooter or bombing at their child’s school.
Thankfully, Alabama has not had a mass casualty event at one of our schools, but we have seen an increasing number of school lockdowns because of threats against our students. When someone calls in a bomb threat or claims they are going to shoot up a school, it causes chaos in our communities.
The stress, mental health consequences, and learning loss from false alarms are real. Parents and teachers are terrified that their worst fears have come true. Classroom instruction time is lost. First responders and law enforcement are forced to waste time and money because they must take every threat seriously. A terroristic threat against a school hurts the entire community.
As a parent and legislator, I knew it was time to act after witnessing the negative impact these violent threats had on our students and our community in Walker County. The state of Alabama must send a clear message that threatening our schools is not a funny prank, and the consequences must serve as a deterrent.
This is why I introduced House Bill 85 (HB85), which increases penalties for bomb and shooting threats, including threats against schools. Currently, a first-degree terrorist threat is a Class C felony, and a second-degree terrorist threat is a Class A misdemeanor. HB85 would make a first-degree charge a Class B felony and a second-degree charge a Class D felony. If we want to deter this behavior, we must punish perpetrators accordingly.
You might ask: what if the perpetrator is a student? If a student is charged with making a terrorist threat, HB85 requires that they be immediately suspended and banned from school property for a minimum of a year or until the charges have been dismissed.
HB85 requires that before a student can be readmitted to the school, all criminal charges must be disposed of, the student must complete a psychological evaluation and counseling, and the student must satisfy all other requirements imposed by the local board of education.
If the student is convicted of making a terrorist threat, they will be expelled from school, and their legal guardian will be required to pay for the cost of the responses by law enforcement, emergency medical service providers, and the local board of education.
Accountability is a lesson that young people must learn, and parents are ultimately responsible for monitoring their child’s behavior.
Our students deserve to learn in a safe environment, and they should not live in fear of being a victim of violence at their schools. False alarms have real consequences for our students, parents, and communities. I firmly believe that HB85 will send a clear message that we have zero tolerance for this behavior in Alabama.
