Assembly Bill 237 was introduced in January and stated that it’s a crime to threaten to injure or kill someone at a daycare, school, university, workplace or church, resulting in either a misdemeanor and imprisonment in a county jail or a felony and imprisonment in a state prison for no more than a year, according to the California Legislative Information website.
Threats related to harm targeted toward schools have been more common. Cosumnes River College experienced a campus lockdown after a threat of violence was made by a student Nov. 21, 2022, according to The Connection.
Mia Vasquez, a 19-year-old English major said if anyone were to make any life threatening comments, they should still get in trouble legally because of past events.
“Even though they’re verbal threats, you don’t know if they’re going to fall through with it or not,” Vasquez said. “There’s school shootings like Columbine, Parkland, all that stuff.”
Dr. Elizabeth Huffman, a political science professor, said this legislation is the start of stricter laws being introduced to address crime.
“It’s part of a larger movement with California that I think we’re seeing to kind of crack down on crime,” Huffman said. “California is taking more steps to being more stringent about its laws.”
Huffman said Proposition 36, which was passed by voters in November of last year is part of the larger movement of having laws in place that would reduce crime.
Proposition 36 allows people possessing certain drugs or who have committed theft under $950 to be charged with a felony and increased prison sentences. People charged with the possession of illegal drugs would have to receive treatment or serve up to three years in prison, according to the California Voter Information Guide website.
Maizy Enck, an art history professor, said fixing the California law loophole would be a valuable change for the safety of schools. She said she wouldn’t want anything to be rushed if there’s a chance it might not work.
“The fear that faculty, staff and everyone on a campus has when those kind of threats are made; that impacts everyone,” Enck said.
Huffman said because of past school shootings, any threats made against places like schools shouldn’t be treated less just because there wasn’t anyone named in the threat.
In case of an emergency while on campus, there are blue telephone booths that when you use them will connect you directly to the Los Rios Police Department.
“Bullets don’t have names on them,” Huffman said. “So even if you’re not intending on killing a particular person, people still die.”