On Thursday, a group of bipartisan lawmakers announced two new bills that would require schools nationwide to install silent panic alarms and increase security enforcement on school grounds.
House representatives from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and Texas announced the Alyssa Act along with the parents of two Parkland victims, Lori Alhadeff and Max Schachter.
“We can prevent violence from happening before it happens,” said Lori Alhadeff, president of Make Our Schools Safe, a nonprofit advocating for school safety based in South Florida, and mother of Alyssa Alhadeff, one of the 17 victims of the 2018 shooting, for whom the new bill called after.
Gun violence is the leading cause of death for minors in the United States. Experts agree the most effective way to reduce school shootings in America is to implement stricter gun regulation, increasing school security on school grounds is a step in the right direction.
“We owe it to our students, educators, and school communities to prioritize their safety,” said Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick. He said the new package would allow for “the implementation of silent alarms in schools and increase funding (…) allowing law enforcement to be notified and to respond at a quicker rate in the event of an active shooter situation.”
