The House Criminal Justice Committee is greenlighting a proposal to stiffen the penalties for hoaxes related to active shooters and bomb threats.
“It is not a joke, it's not cute, it is not something to be taken lightly," said Sen. Debra Altschiller, a Democrat from Stratham and the bill's lead sponsor. "It is a very serious thing that causes real trauma to our communities and exhausts resources.”
Under current law, fake threats of an active shooter or of a bomb are a misdemeanor. The proposal would make it a felony. The measure already cleared the Senate.
New Hampshire schools have been the targets of repeated threats in recent months, some of which later turned out to be false.
Just last week, Portsmouth canceled classes after someone posted a video on social media threatening a shooting at the local high school. A Maine man is facing criminal charges in connection with the incident.
A day after Portsmouth schools were closed, class was also canceled at Rochester Middle School in response to a separate bomb threat. As reported by Fosters Daily Democrat, local authorities said there was "no evidence that the threat is credible," but they closed the school for a day "out of an abundance of caution."
