WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and Appropriations Committees, on Thursday introduced an amendment to the FY 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill that would block the U.S. Department of Education from allowing school districts to use Title IV federal funds to purchase firearms for teachers. The Senate is currently debating the education funding bill.

The New York Times reported that U.S. Secretary of Education Besty DeVos is considering allowing school districts to use federal funds allocated to the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (SSAE) in the Every Child Succeeds Act (ESSA) to purchase firearms for teachers.   

“The Secretary of Education cares more about the firearms industry’s bottom line than the safety of our kids, and that should scare parents to death. I have two elementary school age boys, and so I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that Secretary DeVos’s plan to arm our schools is stopped in its tracks. I’m introducing legislation today to block the arming of teachers, and I do so knowing that earlier this year, Democrats and Republicans in Congress came together to pass a bill that expressly opposed putting guns in the hands of teachers. Congress doesn’t think this is a good idea. Parents don’t think this is a good idea. Teachers don’t think this is a good idea. Only Betsy DeVos and the gun industry want this. More kids will be killed in schools if this policy is put in place—plain and simple. That’s why Congress must block its implementation,” said Murphy.

 

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