Dianne Feinstein Pledges to Fight Policies That Arm Teachers

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) pledged Thursday to fight Trump administration policies that would arm teachers to defend their own lives and the lives of their students if under attack.

Fox News’ Chad Pergram tweeted:

Feinstein on Trump admin proposal to arm teachers: Arming elementary school teachers is a dangerous policy that should never see the light of day. I will do everything in my power to block this policy—including through the appropriations process

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) August 23, 2018

Feinstein’s voiced opposition comes after the New York Times reported Trump’s education department is weighing their options for funding teacher gun purchases under the auspices of a program called Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants. Whereas some federal education programs prohibit any designation of funding for firearms, the program for Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants does not. This sets the stage for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos “to use her discretion to approve any state or district plans to use grant funding for firearms and firearm training.”

On February 21, 2018, President Trump called for public school teachers to be armed for defense of themselves and their students. CNN quoted him saying, “[A] gun-free zone to a maniac—because they’re all cowards—a gun-free zone is ‘let’s go in and let’s attack because bullets aren’t coming back at us.’” He stressed his conviction that this situation could be remedied if “20 percent” of public school teachers had the opportunity to be armed.

On February 22, Trump noted that first responders may be “5 to 8 minutes away” when a school comes under attack, but armed teachers could shoot the sickos “immediately.”

Feinstein will fight to be sure teachers are not armed to shoot back.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.