Rep. Mike Flood votes against mass shooting alert system he calls ‘redundant’

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – During his first full day in Congress, Rep. Mike Flood was one of 169 House members to vote against a bill to establish an Amber Alert-like network for active shooter emergencies.

The bipartisan bill passed 260 to 169 on Wednesday.

Only one Democrat voted against the bill, and about 20% of Republican representatives voted in favor.

“As a broadcaster with a vast amount of experience in emergency communications, I know that the Active Shooter Alert Act is redundant and likely has ulterior motives,” Flood told Channel 8.  “There already exists an emergency alert system which is used to send various kinds of public safety alerts, including alerts regarding active shooters.”

Nebraska State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, who is running against Flood in November, criticized his vote.

“In this epidemic of mass shootings, it is unimaginable that anyone would oppose legislation to alert people about an active shooter in their vicinity,” she said.

Flood said the system would define active shooter situations too broadly.

“The public would begin receiving alerts every time there’s a discharge of a firearm, which has the likely intended effect of causing people to live in fear of ‘mass shootings’ that are not actually mass shootings at all,” he said.

Nebraska’s two other representatives in the House were split: Rep. Don Bacon voted for the bill, but Rep. Adrian Smith opposed it.