U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville is working to hold individuals placing ‘swatting‘ calls across the country accountable for their actions. Earlier this week, Tuberville announced that he and fellow U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) have introduced the Preserving Safe Communities by Ending Swatting Act to expand the federal criminal hoax stature to specifically prohibit “swatting” hoaxes. If passed, the legislation will create significant penalties including a sentence of up to 20 years in prison if someone is seriously hurt during a swatting attack

On a call with reporters Wednesday, the Senator said that the issue is concerning for officials on both sides of the aisle.

“I’ve been actually swatted myself twice at home in Alabama,” Tuberville (R-Auburn) said. “It’s a bipartisan effort to try to get swatting curtailed. What this is it’s usually over the Internet that threatens the life or the livelihood of a family or a congressman or a senator to the Federal Bureau of Investigation or local law enforcement. So all it is, it’s a scare tactic. We’ve got to get it stopped, obviously. It’s just we live in a crazy world, and we need to continue to try to fight back against this overreach of threats that we’re getting year in and year out against congressmen and mostly senators.”

“Our brave men and women in blue shouldn’t have to use valuable time and resources answering hoax calls when they could be protecting communities and getting criminals off the street.”

Sens. Tuberville and Scott were both victims of swatting in December 2023. So far, the bill has already been endorsed by the National Association of Police Organizations, the Fraternal Order of Police, and the National Sheriffs’ Association.

Austen Shipley is the News Director for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten