Two Republican lawmakers are introducing legislation to allow schools to fund firearm safety, archery and hunting programs or other shooting sports.
GOP lawmakers Andy Ogles of Tennessee and Rand Paul of Kentucky introduced the Educating Responsible Future Hunters Act this week to amend federal law regarding programs that teach proper safety and training with a "dangerous weapon."
Currently, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 prohibits funds under the law's jurisdiction "for the provision to any person of a dangerous weapon or training in the use of a dangerous weapon."
The proposed law aims to amend the law by eliminating the restriction on using funds for the provision of weapons or training.
"The federal government has no business imposing federal restrictions on local schools that choose to offer programs to educate students on firearm safety and the skills required for hunting and archery," Ogles said in a statement. "I'm pleased to be able to join Dr. Paul in this effort to push back against the Biden administration’s proposed block of federal funds for schools that offer these extracurricular courses."
According to Paul, more than 500,000 students participate and are certified through hunter education courses each year, which help students learn how to handle firearms safely.
"The Biden Administration is using the same provision I fought to have stripped from the gun control bill to wrongly justify their assault on Kentucky students’ hunting and archery programs," Paul said. "My Educating Responsible Future Hunters Act permanently removes that provision and ensures the Administration's baseless attack on Kentucky and American values ends at the federal level."
The legislation is endorsed by the National Association for Gun Rights, Gun Owners of America, and Second Amendment Hunters.