Mitch Perry
Two weeks ago, Jacksonville Republican John Rutherford and Boca Raton Democrat Ted Deutch teamed up with two other members of Congress on legislation to improve local early intervention programs, an effort that will hopefully prevent school violence.
One day after 17 people were slaughtered in his Congressional District — one of the worst acts of gun violence in American history — Deutch is now pushing for Washington to act quickly on the legislation.
“Congress can act, and Congress must act, to reduce gun violence and prevent any more tragedies like what we experienced here,” the South Florida Democrat said Thursday night. “There are many important proposals in Congress to fight against this cycle of violence. Here’s an easy and bipartisan bill that Congress should pass in the next few weeks.”
Co-sponsored by Kentucky Republican Hal Rogers and Washington Democrat Derek Kilmer, the “Students, Teachers and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act” (HR 4909) was introduced January 30.
Deutch says the STOP School Violence Act invests in training programs for students, school personnel, and law enforcement to more easily identify warning signs of violence and intervene before individuals can harm themselves or others.
The Act also allows for the creation of anonymous reporting systems and the formation of school threat assessment and intervention teams to help schools receive and process threats.
Specifics on the bill are at govtrack.us.
