Washington, D.C., August 23, 2018 – Following reports this morning that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is considering allowing federal funding to be used to purchase guns for teachers, leading gun safety advocates reacted in horror. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence opposed the proposal outright, calling it unprecedented and stunningly dangerous.
Avery Gardiner, co-president of the Brady Campaign, stated:
“This is what happens when a federal commission to combat school shootings fails to include a single gun safety group - it comes up with a dangerous and reckless proposal to divert scarce funds from educating to arsenal-building. Make no mistake, the greatest beneficiary of spending taxpayer dollars on guns for schools would be the gun industry itself. Teachers are already on our front lines for educating our children, and guns in their classrooms won’t make them safer. The way to prevent shootings isn’t adding more guns to our schools - it’s taking action to keep them out of the hands of dangerous people.”
The Brady Campaign has reached out to the White House and the Department of Education repeatedly in the months since the February 14th shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, offering to discuss common-sense proposals to reduce gun violence and school shootings, including universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and nationwide extreme risk protection orders. To date, the administration has not responded to a single request.
Brady has one powerful mission — to unite all Americans against gun violence. We work across Congress, the courts, and our communities with over 90 grassroots chapters, bringing together young and old, red and blue, and every shade of color to find common ground in common sense. In the spirit of our namesakes Jim and Sarah Brady, we have fought for over 45 years to take action, not sides, and we will not stop until this epidemic ends. It’s in our hands.
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