A freshman lawmaker from Florida introduced legislation this week that would block the Trump administration from using anti-terrorism funding to arm teachers in schools.
Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., said she tried to add her language as an amendment to another bill, but Republicans pulled the bill from consideration at the committee level because they knew she was set to propose her idea.
Her new standalone bill would prevent the government from using grant money for homeland security and urban area security projects to fund weapons training for teachers.
“Giving guns to teachers to stop school shootings is preposterous on every level,” she said.
Demings, the former chief of police for the Orlando Police Department, said having multiple shooters in a school setting “only complicates the response.”
“Teachers want to be teachers,” she said. “A national survey of teachers found that most would refuse if offered the choice to carry a firearm. Many have said they would quit.”
Her bill is unlikely to move in the GOP-led House, but is the latest sign of Democratic opposition to President Trump’s proposal to arm teachers in response to last months’ school shooting in Florida.
