Giffords Applauds House Majority for Demanding Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Declare Federal Funding Can’t be Used to Arm Teachers
May 7, 2019— Today, Giffords, the gun violence prevention organization founded and led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, applauded the House Appropriations Committee for demanding that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos clarify that federal funding cannot be used to arm teachers. In the House Appropriations Committee’s Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill for Fiscal Year 2020, the committee acknowledged there is no evidence that arming teachers makes schools safer and called for Secretary DeVos to explain her decisions and take action when the bill becomes law.
Robin Lloyd, Giffords Managing Director:
“At last we have leaders in Congress who will force Betsy DeVos to stop ducking and start explaining just why the gun lobby’s agenda is more important to her than the safety of students and teachers. While she pushes a reckless policy of bringing more guns into classrooms, students and parents are asking for the exact opposite. The lies that arming teachers will make our students safer needs to end. DeVos can’t hide from the truth any longer. We applaud Chairwoman DeLauro for her leadership in protecting children across the country from DeVos’ dangerous policies.”
Last month, Representative Jahana Hayes (D-CT) used documents identified in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Democracy Forward on behalf of Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Southern Poverty Law Center to confront Secretary Betsy DeVos over her push to allow schools to arm teachers. The case demanded records concerning the Trump administration’s unlawful decision to permit the use of federal grant funds to arm teachers in classrooms across America.
Secretary DeVos had previously claimed that it was up to states whether to use federal dollars to buy guns for teachers or train teachers to use guns, and that she did not have the authority to tell them they could not. The documents cited by Congresswoman Hayes during a House Education and Labor Committee hearing showed that the Education Department’s lawyers told her just the opposite: she does have the authority to decide whether federal education funds can be used for gun purchases or training, and it would be reasonable and within her legal authority for her to prevent that use.
Read the lawsuit against the Trump Administration.
Secretary DeVos’s decision to effectively greenlight the use of federal dollars to put guns in schools threatens the safety of young children, and last month’s hearing underscored the importance of finding out what role gun lobby pressure played in the administration’s action. The suit came after public reports first revealed the administration would allow school districts to arm teachers using federal funds. The Department publicly cited requests from states, including Oklahoma, as the reason to arm teachers, but refused to provide the public all the information concerning which school districts made the request—an issue the gun lobby has pushed for years.
A recent analysis by Giffords Law Center found at least 60 publicly-reported instances of guns being mishandled while on school property from 2014-2018. The analysis divides the incidents into categories and includes instances such as:
- A teacher’s loaded gun falling from his waistband during a cartwheel.
- A student grabbing an officer’s gun while the officer attempted to subdue the student.
- A teacher unintentionally firing a gun in class during a safety demonstration.
Related Resources
- REPORT: The Truth about School Shootings : This report debunks dangerous myths perpetuated by the gun lobby that downplay the role of guns in gun violence. These myths were reinforced in a December 2019 report on school safety released by the Trump Administration.
- PRESS RELEASE: Jacksonville Parents, Elementary Students Sue Duval County, Florida Over Illegal, Reckless Decision to Let Inadequately Trained Staff Carry Guns in Schools : The program in question gives guns to non-law enforcement personnel without providing adequate training, putting school children in danger and violating Florida law.