Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) spoke exclusively to Breitbart News Sunday, noting that he is putting forward legislation this week get funds in the hands of local school districts to enable them to make the best decisions for school safety.
His legislation is the “Secure Every School and Protect Our Nation’s Children Act of 2022.” The bill’s short title is “Stop II Act of 2022.”
Hudson reminded Breitbart News that he is a father of a school-aged child and that “school shootings are a gut punch” and he takes them personally. However, he noted that nothing is getting fixed because Democrats and their surrogates in the media frame their response to the attacks in a way that leaves only two options: “Either you support gun control or you want to do nothing and let kids die.”
Hudson continued, “But those aren’t the only two choices. There is a third choice, and that’s to enact some policies that will actually have an impact, that will actually prevent school shootings.”
He went on to mention Republicans’ efforts to protect schools in the past, noting that the “Stop II Act of 2022” is a continuation of those efforts.
As part of the “Stop II Act of 2022,” Hudson told Breitbart News his goal is to immediately make $1 billion available that school districts around the country can access and use in the manner that best suits their specific needs. Some districts may need more armed resource officers, others may have resource officers but need better fencing, and Hudson stressed that each district knows itself best.
His bill makes another $1 billion available to hire more guidance counselors. He stressed his conviction that those counselors are extremely important, as they fulfil important needs that include identifying students who might be prone to carry out an attack.
Hudson said, “There are not enough guidance counselors in our schools.” He said that students and staff often know who the troubled students are in a given school, then noted, “But we’re not intervening with those troubled students.”
He sees more counselors as a way to provide such intervention.
Hudson’s bill also puts $5 billion into training local law enforcement in various active shooter response scenarios.
This $5 billion also has a high degree of flexibility, allowing districts additional options for further training for counselors, hardening schools etc.
That is a total of $7 billion which Hudson noted comes from unspent COVID funds.
In the closing moments of the interview Hudson told Breitbart News his bill also “creates a clearing house where federal agencies continually update and provide training materials on everything from anti-bullying to mental health to handling threats.” That clearing house would also allow school systems to look at what is working in other systems, facilitating the sharing of necessary information.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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 and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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