Senator Catherine Young (R-Olean)

ALBANY – There is a major gap between how government and law enforcement treat different kinds of potential threats against the civilian populace.

That’s according to Sen. Cathy Young (R-Olean), who said that in the wake of yet another mass shooting in Florida, a coalition of New York State Senators have introduced legislation that seeks to remedy the problem by treating mass shootings as acts of terrorism.

In a media release, Senator Young said the legislation would help close any potential reporting gaps to ensure that an individual who is deemed a possible threat by tips or local police investigation is properly dealt with. That includes when an individual threatens to conduct a mass shooting.

Sen. Young said that by classifying mass shootings as ‘terrorism’ – it would empower the federal and state intelligence agencies to work to prevent a crime from happening.

The bill also codifies the New York State Intelligence Center, a federally authorized intelligence gathering partnership between the FBI, CIA, State Police, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services and local policing agencies, and adds a mandate for the Intelligence Center to prevent mass shootings.

The proposed legislation would reference mass shootings in the statute describing the acts of terrorism.

The bill clarifies that a school, house of worship or business could be considered a “civilian population” when a terrorist discharges or attempts to affect the conduct of such areas by discharging a weapon with the intent to cause harm.

According to New York State Police names of the three local teenagers — a 15-year-old student of Ashville BOCES, a 17-year-old of Chautauqua Lake, and 16-year-old of Randolph Academy — were not released after they were taken for mental health evaluations under the state’s mental hygiene law.

Two of the students said they would bring guns to school in “copycat threats” following last week’s mass shooting in Florida.

According to the Post-Journal, the students were not arrested and are not facing charges at this time.

The schools went into lockouts on Friday as a precaution until the students were identified.