US House passes bill to improve school safety

WASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly approved a bill to improve school safety Wednesday, the first gun-related action by Congress since the shooting that left 17 dead at a Florida high school.

The bill authorizes $500 million over 10 years for grants to improve training and coordination between schools and local law enforcement and help identify signs of potential violence before they occur.

Lawmakers approved the bill 407-10. It now goes to the Senate, where a similar measure is being considered.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the bill “provides a multi-layered approach” to identify threats so authorities can stop violence before it occurs.

“Tragic violence has no place in our schools. Every American believes that,’” Ryan said. “This legislation will actually take concrete action to prevent that.”

The vote came as the FBI announced it is doubling the number of supervisors assigned to review tips received from the public about possible threats of mass shootings or other violence.

Deputy FBI Director David Bowdich told a Senate committee that the agency “could have and should have done more” to investigate information it received before the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The FBI received at least two credible tips that the suspect in the Florida school shooting had a “desire to kill” and access to guns and could be plotting an attack, but agents failed to investigate.

“While we will never know if any such investigative activity would have prevented this tragedy, we clearly should have done more,” Bowdich told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Senate panel was considering its proposal to improve school safety, but a hearing Wednesday focused on law-enforcement failures in Florida. Besides the FBI lapses, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel has said his office received more than 20 calls about accused gunman Nikolas Cruz in the past few years