NEW SHOREHAM, RI - Governor Gina M. Raimondo issued the following statement today responding to reports that President Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is developing a plan to allow local school districts to use federal education funds to purchase firearms for educators:
"The reported Trump-DeVos plan to arm educators is ill-advised and dangerous. Federal education funds should be used to give teachers the right school supplies, professional development, and access to technology so they can focus on teaching our kids. Guns don't belong in schools and federal education dollars certainly should not be used to purchase firearms. This reported plan won't make our schools safer and will serve only to steal essential funding from our children.
"As long as I am Governor, I will stand up against the Trump Administration and fight for stronger gun safety laws. I'll fight to change our laws to keep guns out of schools and fight hard to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines."
According to New York Times reporting yesterday, "[t]he Education Department is considering whether to allow states to use federal funding to purchase guns for educators, according to multiple people with knowledge of the plan."