Gun Owners of America Statement on Federally-Funded Firearms in Schools

August 24, 2018
For immediate release

Gun Owners of America Statement on Federally-Funded Firearms in Schools

Springfield, VA – Regarding the federal education grants to fund guns in schools, Erich Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, issued the following statement:

“Gun Owners of America supports a proposed plan where the Department of Education (DOE) would facilitate the arming of teachers.

“We know that mass killers target areas where guns are prohibited. In fact, 98% of the public mass shootings in this country occur in gun-free zones, like schools.

“The only thing that will stop an active shooter is a good guy with a gun. No wonder that 81% of police officers support arming teachers and school staff.

“We’ve seen it time and time again where a good person at the scene of the crime is the one who stops the killings, long before the police can arrive.

“We saw that this year in Maryland and Illinois when two school resource officers shot perpetrators. In South Carolina, it was a firefighter with a concealed carry permit who brought the shooting to an end. In Mississippi, it was an armed school assistant principal who apprehend the killer for the police.

“This DOE program would be legal under the Second Amendment, which protects the right of the people (including teachers) to keep and bear arms without having their right of self-protection being infringed.”

Gun Owners of America is a nonprofit lobbying organization dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms without compromise. GOA represents over 1.5 million members and activists. For more information, visit GOA’s Newsroom.

— GOA —