Sen. Chuck Schumer Rejects Sen. Ron Johnson’s School Safety Bill: We Will Vote on Gun Legislation

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rejected a school safety bill proposed by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) Wednesday, one that had been promoted by several of the parents of victims of the 2018 Parkland school shooting.

Schumer dismissed the legislation, first introduced in 2019, on which the Parkland victims’ parents had collaborated, claiming the bill “could see more guns in schools” and touting, “I blocked it.”

The Luke and Alex School Safety Act seeks to codify into law an online federal clearinghouse on school safety best practices for improving school security for use by state and local educational agencies, higher education institutions, state and local law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and the general public.

The measure is named after Luke Hoyer and Alex Schachter, two victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting massacre.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Johnson said the measure “ensures that parents, teachers, school officials and other stakeholders have input into what those best practices are.”

He explained the clearinghouse would not mandate schools to take any specific action.

“Maybe most importantly, it publishes the available grant programs and federal resources available for school safety,” the senator said. “Again, it passed out of the Committee on Homeland Security Governmental Affairs twice, unanimously – once under my chairmanship, once under the chairmanship of Senator Peters.”… (Excerpt from The Virginia Star)