[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 30, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S5589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         SENATE RESOLUTION 777--KEEPING GUNS OUT OF CLASSROOMS

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

                              S. Res. 777

       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.

                          ____________________