Opposition to Using Federal Funds to Arm Teachers

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my opposition to the idea of using Federal funds to arm teachers. This issue has haunted me from the moment it was first discussed after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School to more recently when it was revisited after the Parkland shooting.

Seventy-three percent of teachers do not want this. More than 60 percent of parents do not want this. And the majority of students do not want this.

Since 1999, in 225 incidents of school campus gun violence, armed personnel failed to disarm a shooter 223 times.

I came to Congress from the classroom. As a teacher, I would never want the responsibility of securing a firearm in a school. I understand how this would drastically change the school culture and make it feel more like a prison.

As the wife of a police officer, I understand the training that is involved with the responsibility of owning a firearm, and I know that school districts cannot manage that. I could never imagine explaining to a parent that it was my firearm that accidentally injured their child.

I recognize that many local school communities are still trying to decide where they fall on this conversation, yet I cannot overstress the point that Federal funds should not be diverted from student learning outcomes to arm teachers.

This is why, today, I have introduced a resolution to prohibit the use of Federal funds to arm teachers.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source