The Biden administration is blocking federal funding for schools with hunting and archery programs.
Fox News reported that the Department of Education determined that under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act passed last year, school hunting and archery classes are precluded from receiving the funds.
Under this interpretation of the law, millions of school children enrolled in these programs nationwide could be impacted.
“It’s a negative for children. As a former educator of 30-plus years, I was always trying to find a way to engage students,” Tommy Floyd, the president of the National Archery in the Schools Program, told Fox News.
“In many communities, it’s a shooting sport, and the skills from shooting sports, that help young people grow to be responsible adults. They also benefit from relationships with role models.”
Floyd, a former educator, said his organization alone consists of 1.3 million students from nearly 9,000 schools across 49 states.
“Some of those schools have already canceled plans to include archery or hunting education courses in their curriculum due to the Education Department guidance,” Fox reported.
Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safe Communities Act in June 2022, the purpose of which, according to the Education Department, is to promote “safer, more inclusive, and positive school environments.”
The BSCA was passed in the aftermath of the May 2022 school shooting at Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and 2 adults dead and 17 others injured.
Should kids have the opportunity to learn how to safely hunt?
Yes: 100% (18 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
GOP Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona introduced the act.
The legislation included an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act prohibiting federal funds from helping provide any person with a dangerous weapon or to provide “training in the use of a dangerous weapon.”
Cornyn and Tillis sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona earlier this month expressing concern about the agency misinterpreting the BSCA.
“We were alarmed to learn recently that the Department of Education has misinterpreted the BSCA to require the defending of certain longstanding educational and enrichment programs — specifically, archery and hunter education classes — for thousands of children, who rely on these programs to develop life skills, learn firearm safety and build self-esteem,” the senators wrote, according to Fox.
“The Department mistakenly believes that the BSCA precludes funding these enrichment programs,” they continued. “Such an interpretation contradicts congressional intent and the text of the BSCA.”
Ridiculous https://t.co/Yi3Ro33FGY
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) July 28, 2023
Ben Cassidy, executive vice president for international government and public affairs at Safari Club International, told Fox, “It is ironic that the U.S. Department of Education is actively denying young Americans the chance to educate themselves on basic firearm and hunting safety.
“At best, the department’s policy appears to be singularly geared to ensure hunters are less safe when handling firearms or bows and, at worst, are leveling a direct attack on hunters’ ability to pass down hunting to the newest generations,” Cassidy added.
Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, agreed, accusing the Department of Education of “blatantly misconstruing” the law.
“Stopping hunter education courses that teach safe and responsible firearm handling makes our communities less, not more, safe and diminishes our ability to pass our nation’s cherished hunting and recreational shooting sports traditions on to the next generation,” he told Fox.
The National Rifle Association tweeted in response to the Education Department’s ruling, “No surprise! This is another example of an anti-gun, anti-hunting administration abusing an ambiguous law filled with undefined and overly broad provisions to push their radical agenda.”
No surprise! This is another example of an anti-gun, anti-hunting administration abusing an ambiguous law filled with undefined and overly broad provisions to push their radical agenda. https://t.co/2tbTaujYVc
— NRA (@NRA) July 28, 2023
The NRA added in a following post, “The Biden Admin is once again demonstrating an alarming readiness to take this power as far as they desire.”
