[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 46 (Thursday, March 14, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H2735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           OPPOSITION TO USING FEDERAL FUNDS TO ARM TEACHERS

  (Mrs. HAYES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  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.

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