[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 777 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 777

                    Keeping guns out of classrooms.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 30, 2024

 Mr. Murphy submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
        the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
                    Keeping guns out of classrooms.

Whereas Congress has consistently made clear that it is unlawful for Federal 
        funds to be used to arm school personnel with firearms or to train such 
        personnel in the use of firearms;
Whereas, in response to the shooting in Parkland, Florida, Congress passed the 
        STOP School Violence Act of 2018 (title V of division S of Public Law 
        115-141; 132 Stat. 1128), which amended part AA of title I of the 
        Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10551 et 
        seq.) to specify that ``[n]o amounts provided as a grant [for school 
        security under that part] may be used for the provision to any person of 
        a firearm or training in the use of a firearm'';
Whereas section 4102 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 7112), as added by section 4101 of the Every Student Succeeds Act 
        (Public Law 114-95; 129 Stat. 1968), defines drug and violence 
        prevention in schools as including the ``creation . . . of a school 
        environment that is free of weapons'';
Whereas existing research demonstrates that arming school personnel with 
        firearms or training such personnel to use firearms will not make 
        schools safer;
Whereas a recent analysis by the Federal Bureau of Investigation found that 
        casualties for trained law enforcement during active shooter incidents 
        increased from 2021 to 2022;
Whereas a survey of gun violence on school campuses showed that out of 225 
        incidents of gun violence between 1999 and 2018, trained armed personnel 
        or school-based police failed to disarm an active shooter 223 times;
Whereas proposed and existing programs to arm school personnel with firearms or 
        to train such personnel in the use of firearms provide significantly 
        less training than law enforcement officers receive;
Whereas research demonstrates that--

    (1) increased gun access and possession are not associated with 
protection from violence; and

    (2) a greater prevalence of guns increases the likelihood of gun 
violence;

Whereas a greater prevalence of guns in schools creates undue risk of students 
        gaining unauthorized access to firearms and the potential for 
        unintentional shootings and school staff using guns in situations that 
        do not warrant lethal force;
Whereas students of color, students with disabilities, and other vulnerable 
        groups would experience a disparate impact of programs that arm school 
        personnel as those students are disproportionately disciplined and 
        arrested;
Whereas heightened policing within public school spaces decreases the sense of 
        safety of a student and the associated anticipation of violence leads to 
        increased anxiety, fear, and depression;
Whereas 54 percent of teachers in the United States believe carrying firearms 
        will make schools less safe, according to a RAND Research Report from 
        May 2023;
Whereas the majority of parents of school-aged children oppose arming school 
        personnel, according to surveys;
Whereas the National Association of School Resource Officers, the National 
        Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers have all 
        publicly opposed State-level policies to arm teachers and school 
        personnel;
Whereas, as of June 2024, there is no evidence supporting the value of arming 
        school personnel;
Whereas, before the enactment of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (Public 
        Law 117-159; 136 Stat. 1313), the December 2018 report of the Federal 
        Commission on School Safety endorsed the use of Federal funds to train 
        school personnel to use firearms even though, according to transcripts 
        of the affiliated listening tour, the broad consensus among listening 
        tour participants was disagreement with programs that would arm school 
        personnel; and
Whereas section 13401 of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (Public Law 117-
        159; 136 Stat. 1338) added a provision to the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) that prohibits using 
        funds under that Act to provide any person with a dangerous weapon or 
        training in the use of a dangerous weapons: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that Federal funds 
should not be used to arm school personnel with firearms or to train 
such personnel in the use of firearms.
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