What This Bill Does
This bill directs the National Institute of Justice (a federal research agency) to study online content created by mass shooters and identify patterns in what they post. The goal is to help identify potential mass shooters early by analyzing manifestos, social media posts, and other online material from previous mass shooting incidents.
Who It Affects
The National Institute of Justice will be directly responsible for conducting this research. Law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, nonprofit organizations, and victims service providers will be consulted during the study.
Key Provisions
- The Director of the National Institute of Justice must prepare and submit a report to Congress within 2 years identifying content patterns used by mass shooters on online platforms and social media (Sec. 3a)
- The Director must review information and data from federal, state, and local law enforcement about linguistic patterns used by previous mass shooters (Sec. 3b)
- The Director must review academic studies about how social media relates to mass shootings (Sec. 3b)
- The Director must meet with prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, law enforcement agencies, and other experts to gather information for the report (Sec. 3b)
- The Director must identify items for further study and publish a request for research grant applications within 30 days after publishing the report (Sec. 3c)
What Changes
If this bill becomes law, the federal government will systematically study online patterns from previous mass shooters to potentially help identify warning signs in future cases.
Important Definitions
- Mass shooting: Any incident where four or more individuals, not including the shooter, are shot or killed with a gun (Sec. 4)
- Social media: Channels where people create, share, or exchange information in virtual communities, including platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Discord, and 4chan (Sec. 4)
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 563
To direct the National Institute of Justice to collect, study, and analyze
online content created by mass shooters in an effort to early identify
potential mass shooters.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 26, 2023
Mr. MFUME (for himself, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr.
MOULTON, Mr. CARSON, Mr. EVANS, Ms. PORTER, Ms. KAMLAGER-
DOVE, Ms. BROWN, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. COHEN, Mr. PAYNE,
Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms.
PLASKETT, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. IVEY, Mr. ESPAILLAT,
Mr. LYNCH, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. SABLAN, and Mr. DAVIS of Illi-
nois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To direct the National Institute of Justice to collect, study,
and analyze online content created by mass shooters
in an effort to early identify potential mass shooters.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Identifying Mass
4
Shooters Act’’.
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•HR 563 IH
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
1
Congress finds the following:
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(1) Perpetrators of mass shootings have utilized
3
various online channels to declare their intent to
4
commit violence through manifestos, blog posts, so-
5
cial media posts, and direct messages prior to com-
6
mitting acts of terror.
7
(2) Inadequate oversight and accountability
8
mechanisms on online platforms creates an environ-
9
ment
that
enables
hate
speech,
extremism,
10
radicalization, and violence.
11
(3) In 2018, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas
12
High School shooter posted a video on YouTube
13
stating his desire to be a ‘‘professional school shoot-
14
er,’’ and proceeded to share photos of himself posing
15
with guns, along with troubling photos on Instagram
16
of his weapons arsenal and an animal he tortured,
17
prior to murdering 17 students and school staff
18
members.
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(4) In 2018, the Santa Fe High School shooter
20
posted a Facebook photo of a t-shirt with ‘‘Born to
21
Kill,’’ and images of Nazi and satanic symbols prior
22
to murdering 10 students and school staff members.
23
(5) In 2022, the Buffalo Tops grocery store
24
shooter declared on Discord, ‘‘I will carry out an at-
25
tack,’’ posted a manifesto on 4chan, and then
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•HR 563 IH
livestreamed the murder of 10 Black people in a ra-
1
cially motivated shooting.
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(6) In 2022, the Robb Elementary School
3
shooter posted a photo of a hand holding a gun
4
magazine, 2 semi-automatic rifles, a TikTok profile
5
that warned ‘‘Kids be scared,’’ and sent a direct
6
message though Yubo notifying an individual of his
7
intent to kill prior to murdering 21 children and
8
staff members.
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(7) The First Baptist Church of Sutherland
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Springs shooter demonstrated a fascination with
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mass shootings and launched personal attacks on
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Facebook prior to murdering 26 churchgoers, includ-
13
ing an unborn child.
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SEC. 3. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
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(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the
16
date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Na-
17
tional Institute of Justice shall prepare and submit a re-
18
port to Congress identifying content patterns used by
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mass shooters through online platforms and social media
20
channels.
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(b) REVIEW AND CONSULTATION.—In preparing the
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report required under this section, the Director shall, at
23
a minimum—
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•HR 563 IH
(1) review information, data, and reports relat-
1
ing to linguistic patterns used by previous mass
2
shooters collected by Federal, State, and local law
3
enforcement as of the date of the enactment of this
4
Act;
5
(2) review academic studies, including studies
6
analyzing the relevance of social media in mass
7
shootings described in paragraph (1); and
8
(3) meet with, and consider any facts and anal-
9
yses offered by, prosecutors, defense attorneys, fam-
10
ily attorneys, judges, nonprofit organizations, victims
11
service providers, culturally specific organizations,
12
Federal, State, Tribal, and local courts, Federal,
13
State, Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies,
14
and individuals with academic expertise in relin-
15
quishment.
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(c) IDENTIFICATION
OF
ITEMS
FOR
FURTHER
17
STUDY.—In the report under this section, the Director
18
shall identify items for further study, relating to the effec-
19
tiveness of the best practices developed under subsection
20
(b). The Director shall publish a solicitation for applica-
21
tions for research grants on such items not later than 30
22
days after the date of the report.
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SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
24
In this Act:
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•HR 563 IH
(1) MASS SHOOTING.—The term ‘‘mass shoot-
1
ing’’ means any incident in which four or more indi-
2
viduals, not including the shooter, are shot or killed
3
with a gun.
4
(2) SOCIAL MEDIA.—The term ‘‘social media’’
5
means a channel for interactions among people in
6
which they create, share, or exchange information
7
and ideas in virtual communities and networks (spe-
8
cific activities including instant messages, social
9
media posts, blogs, uploading media content,
10
through social media platforms including, Facebook,
11
Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, LinkedIn,
12
WhatsApp, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Twitch,
13
4chan, 8run, Yubo, and Discord).
14
SEC. 5. FEDERAL ADOPTION.
15
The National Institute of Justice shall prepare and
16
submit to Congress findings and recommendations for
17
Federal legislation in accordance with section 3.
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Æ
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