Calling the SWAT team on your neighbor could soon carry a 20-year prison sentence

The Chicago Tribune reports:

A potentially lethal form of prank-calling could soon be banned with stiffer penalties under a piece of legislation that just passed a crucial vote in Congress.

The bill takes aim at a tactic known as "swatting" - where a prankster calls the cops and alerts them to a bomb threat or other criminal activity going down at the target's house. Unable to tell the difference between a fake threat and a real one, the authorities send a SWAT team to storm the victim's abode, guns drawn. And the victim has no choice but to endure the abuse.

Just a reminder.