On Monday, a Florida Democrat and known gun control hypocrite unveiled a bill that would prevent the Trump administration from funding efforts by local communities to arm their teachers.
“Arming teachers is a recipe for disaster — a reckless plan which will complicate active-shooter situations, as well as forcing teachers to take on not only the responsibility but also the hurt, pain, guilt, and liability when they find themselves out-skilled and out-gunned — with our children in the crossfire,” congresswoman Val Demings said in a press release.
Unironically dubbed The Secure Communities and Safe Schools Act (it’s unclear how preventing teachers from protecting their students would make a community “secure”), Demings’ proposal is designed to combat Trump’s use of “anti-terrorism funding to give guns to educators.”
“Specifically, it would block the use of Homeland Security grant money and Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant money for that purpose,” the Democrat’s press release explains.
Arming teachers is a recipe for disaster—a reckless plan which will complicate active-shooter situations. It’s especially foolish that we might waste critical anti-terrorism funding to do it.
The real solution is to keep guns out of the wrong hands. #EndGunViolence https://t.co/dfEpuqV5Tn
— Rep. Val Demings (@RepValDemings) April 29, 2019
The legislation was unveiled roughly a week after the Florida Senate approved a bill that would allow teachers in the Sunshine State to carry weapons at school so long as their local school board approves.
Despite the bill containing a stipulation that teachers must pass a psychological evaluation and complete 144 hours of training, its passage provoked outrage from gun control advocates.
“What we are telling teachers [is] if you want protection for you and your children then you do it yourself,” Florida state Sen. Bill Montford, complained to the Sun-Sentinel.
It’s unclear why Montford believes that allowing teachers to arm themselves would somehow void the existence of armed school security personnel and conventional police officers.
It’s also unclear why Montford and Demings, who seemingly introduced her legislation Monday to preempt the Florida Senate’s bill (which reportedly still has to pass the Florida House), remains so adverse to the facts, which show that arming teachers would indeed improve security.
Following the Parkland massacre in early 2018, a state commission was designated to investigate the shooting and propose possible reforms. Released in January, the commission’s 458-page report included a recommendation that some teachers be permitted to carry weapons on campus.
“School districts and charter schools should permit the most expansive use of the Guardian
Program under existing law to allow personnel — who volunteer, are properly selected,
thoroughly screened and extensively trained — to carry concealed firearms on campuses for
self-protection and the protection of other staff and students,” the specifically report read.
“Further, the Florida legislature should expand the Guardian Program to allow teachers who
volunteer—in addition to those now authorized—who are properly selected, thoroughly
screened and extensively trained to carry concealed firearms on campuses for self-protection, and the protection of other staff and students in response to an active assailant incident.”
The full report may be seen below:
Launched in the wake of the Parkland shooting, the state’s Guardian program called for school districts in the state to hire someone to be “responsible for providing security and safety services for the school campus; and protecting the life, and well-being of students, staff and visitors.”
The committee’s recommendation was that the program be expanded to include teachers. And the Florida State’s bill — which Demings clearly seeks to roll back — is designed to make that happen.
“Florida teachers have cried out in opposition to putting more guns in their classrooms,” her statement from Monday continues. “Teachers are already overworked, underappreciated, and underpaid. This is one more burden they should not be forced to bear.”
“The new terrorism-prevention dollars that we won for Orlando should be used to help law enforcement and first responders, not put a loaded gun between our children and their teacher.”
Though seemingly hellbent on preventing teachers from protecting themselves and their students with firearms, the Democrat legislator has no qualms about using weapons to protect herself.
During her tenure as the police chief of Orlando back in 2009, Demings was dealt a “written censure” after someone stole her weapon from her Chevy Tahoe.
“Although the vehicle’s remote was used to lock the vehicle, the doors were not physically [checked] to ensure the locks [had] engaged,” internal-affairs manager Dwain L. Rivers wrote at the time. “Chief Demings accepts full responsibility and does not wish to contest the sustained finding.”
The firearm was reportedly never recovered.
Now fast-forward to 2017, when she posted a photo to Facebook of herself posing with gun control activists:
Proud to stand with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Americans For Responsible Solutions, The Brady Campaign and my…
Posted by U.S. Representative Val Demings on Wednesday, May 3, 2017
In response, one critic asked her about her missing gun.
“Hey Val.. have they found that gun that was stolen out of your car??? Let’s talk responsible gun ownership first, before we take on other points,” a critic by the name of Stephen Mercer wrote.
See her stunning reply below:
“Your first amendment (sic) rights are the same as mine.. no one gets put on a pedestal.. same as my second amendment rights,” Mercer replied. “Who are you to regulate more laws onto law abiding citizens. We are regulated by background checks on the federal level on every purchase, my ccp background check on a federal level.. and yet I haven’t irresponsibly left a gun someplace it can get stolen.”
Excellent point, not that Demings cared to listen …
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Vivek@bizpacreview.com
V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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