Seven years after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, lawmakers continue bipartisan push for changes to prevent future violence
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) led bipartisan lawmakers in both chambers of Congress to reintroduce the EAGLES Act to prevent acts of mass violence. The bill, named after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mascot and introduced on the seventh anniversary of the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida, would expand the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) to include a greater focus on preventing targeted violence, including school violence.
The NTAC provides research and training for behavioral threat assessment and targeted violence, including school shootings and other public threats. The legislation creates a national program on targeted school violence prevention and expands the NTAC’s research and training on school violence and its dissemination of information on school violence prevention initiatives.
“School shootings have devastated communities across the country, including in Nevada,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “This bipartisan legislation will help our law enforcement stop these violent attacks before they occur, so families can send their children to school without fear.”
“Effective behavioral threat assessments and early interventions can stop deadly ideas from becoming tragic acts,” said Senator Grassley. “Our bill would enable the Secret Service to share their unique tools and expertise with school safety partners across the country, building safer communities. While we cannot undo past tragedies, we can work together to honor the memories of those we’ve lost and prevent future violence.”
The legislation is supported by Make Our Schools Safe, School-Based Health Alliance, National Fraternal Order of Police, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, National Association of School Resource Officers, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Safe Schools for Alex, Stand with Parkland, Everytown for Gun Safety, Safe and Sound Schools, National Sheriff’s Association, Sergeant Benevolent Association, and The American Psychological Association.
The U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) was created in 1998 to develop evidence-based indicators for various types of targeted violence, including school violence. NTAC’s findings can then be used to develop best practices and training to prevent future acts of violence. Since 2002, the Secret Service has conducted hundreds of training operations for more than 198,000 school administrators, teachers, counselors, mental health professionals, school resource officers and other public safety partners. The EAGLES Act reauthorizes and expands NTAC, allowing it to scale its threat assessment operations, with a particular focus on school safety.
In addition to reauthorizing the Center and expanding their research and education capabilities, the bill establishes a national program on targeted school violence prevention and provides additional resources for research and training. Through the bill’s school safety initiative, the NTAC will coordinate trainings and plans with the Departments of Justice and Education. The bill also requires the Secret Service to provide periodic progress reports to Congress.
The full text of the legislation can be found here, and a summary of the bill can be found here.
Senator Cortez Masto has pushed to reduce gun violence, including through expanding background checks and other commonsense gun violence prevention measures. She has led bipartisan legislation in the Senate to permanently ban bump stocks and other devices that allow semi-automatic firearms to increase their rate of fire and effectively operate as fully automatic weapons. She voted to pass the bipartisan Safer Communities Act to close the so-called “boyfriend loophole.”
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