[2] In 2001, Shannon and his wife Abby co-founded the Metropolitan Washington AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Plan, a local extension of the nationwide child recovery program.

[3] Shannon's plan for a regional AMBER system successfully coordinated local law enforcement, media, and community groups to create a rapid-response child recovery network.

These included stronger witness protections in cases of violent crime, increased penalties for gang-related violence, Reform of Emergency Response Plans in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, and expansion of Virginia's Rape Shield Statute, and making it a crime to evade sex offender registration[7][8][9][10][11] Shannon introduced legislation intended to protect Virginians against identity theft – specifically requiring database managers to implement security measures to guard against unauthorized access to customer information.

[12] In January 2009, Shannon responded to the economic crisis by introducing a bill with the intention of increasing government accountability, improving budget oversight, and reducing wasteful bureaucratic spending.

His platform included increased restrictions on sex offenders use of Social Networking services[14] and several measures to deter drunk driving, and attempting to curb gang recruitment.