DEVOS’ GUN PLAN RIPPED AS HALF-COCKED
‘More guns in more places don’t make kids safe’
Fired-up critics of a proposal to arm U.S. schoolteachers by using federal grant money sent a message to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos — the three R’s don’t include a revolver.
“Just the concept of (teachers) carrying a gun in the school … is pretty objectionable to most Americans and most people with common sense,” said former astronaut Mark Kelly, whose wife Gabrielle Giffords was nearly killed in a 2011 mass shooting in Arizona.
“More guns in more places don’t make kids safe.”
Kelly was joined by Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher-survivor Abbey Clements and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten in ripping the plan to buy firearms for teachers with money from Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants.
The Education Department issued a Thursday statement dancing around the question of spending federal funds to provide weapons for educators.
“The Department is constantly considering and evaluating policy issues, particularly issues related to school safety,” said Press Secretary Liz Hill. “The Secretary nor the Department issues opinions on hypothetical scenarios.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) introduced emergency legislation Thursday to slam the brakes on plans for arming school instructors.
“The policy in this Congress is that federal funds should not be used to arm teachers,” said Murphy.
The federal grant money considered for the gun-buying is typically intended to help boost students’ academic achievement.
“I must tell you, this shocks me,” said Weingarten. “I expect this administration to be reckless, but I couldn’t imagine they would go to this level.
“This pot of money that she would consider diverting resources from goes to poor kids for things like guidance counselors, mental health services… The only entity that helps is the gun manufacturers.”
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jamie was killed six months ago in the Parkland, Fla., school massacre, echoed Weingarten’s complaint.
“Your brain-dead plan will pull money from mental health (services),” he tweeted. “Teachers already use about $500 of (our) own money on supplies, you could divert funds to help them.”
Second grade teacher Clements insisted the scenario of a gun-toting educator rushing to the rescue against an armed attacker was unrealistic — and wouldn’t have stopped the carnage at her Newton, Conn., school.
“Had school employees been carrying guns at Sandy Hook, it would not have made us or any of our students safer,” she said. “In fact, it (would) have made things worse. It is completely unrealistic to think an educator with a gun… would be able to take down the gunman.”
Twenty first-graders, along with a halfdozen school administrators, were killed by a lone shooter in the 2012 shooting.