“More than three weeks after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, the White House later Sunday is expected to unveil some proposals on guns and school safety,” CNN reports. A few minutes ago, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos spoke to members of the press on a conference call. DeVos said that President Trump get his kicks from route Fix NICs. (The White House backs the bill.) The Executive Branch also supports . . .
the STOP School Violence Act. The new law would authorize $50 million a year on school safety provisions, including “training for teachers and students on ways to prevent violence.”
[According to the National Association for Education Statistics, in 2014, America was home to 98,271 public schools. Assuming the aforementioned provision, I make that $508.79 per school. For comparison sake, that’s about the same amount of money as a new GLOCK 19.]
The President is forming a “Federal Commission on School Safety” to figure out ways to “stop school violence.” The body will reportedly “consider” raising the minimum age to purchase a long gun from 18 to 21. The age issue is “a state-based discussion right now.”
Ms. DeVos will head up the body, which will no doubt reach many of the exact same conclusions as the NRA’s comprehensive — and comprehensively ignored — National School Shield Program.
As for arming teachers, the Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council promised that the Trump administration will start working with states “to provide rigorous firearms training” to teachers and other school staff who volunteer to bear arms on campus. Specifically, Department of Justice funding for school personnel firearms training with state and local law enforcement agencies.
Along those same lines, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies are now tasked with partnering with states and local governments to launch a “see something, say something” style campaign to encourage reports of suspicious activity in and around public schools.
We also learned that the President has ordered a “full audit and review” of the FBI’s tip line, after it failed to act on actionable intelligence indicating that Nikolas Cruz planned to attack Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Most worrying of all, the CIC’s looking for ways to pressure enable states to enact what it calls “risk protection orders.” What California calls “Gun Violence Protection Orders” (enacted after the Isla Vista stabbing and firearms-related homicide). What Florida calls “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” (enacted in the post-Parkland hysteria).
No mention was made of due process.
[NB: This article was re-written after we learned that the press reports indicating that the White House would voice unqualified support for raising the minimum long gun purchase age to 21 turned out to be “fake news.” Or President Trump changed his mind at the last minute. Or something.]