By: José Niño
On August 11, 2023, a coalition of 19 Republican senators sent a letter to President Joe Biden criticizing his administration’s plan to use the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to justify the freezing of funds from schools that have archery and/or hunting programs. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) is leading this coalition to protest the Biden Administration’s actions.
Back on July 28, the Biden Administration started blocking funds for elementary schools that featured the aforementioned programs. Per a FOX News report, certain funds are allocated towards archery and hunting programs through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. However, the Biden Administration has recently started asserting that the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was passed in the summer of 2022, prevented “school hunting and archery classes…from receiving federal funding.”
Sen. Barrasso and his Republican counterparts explain that they were against the gun control proposal when it was passed and signed into law. Currently, they oppose its use to withhold funding from schools.
Barrasso wrote the following:
“The Biden Administration’s purposeful misinterpretation of the gun control bill is attempting to take away valuable programs from students across the country. Hunter education and archery programs are beneficial to students both in rural and urban areas.”
Barrasso and his Republican compatriots also called attention to how the attacks launched against programs for elementary school children are part of a broader offensive against archers and hunters. He stated:
“It is now clearer than ever that the Biden Administration will use the [gun control] bill to attack the constitutional right of Americans. Hunting and archery are strongly connected to the traditions and heritage of America. This outrageous overreach is an attack on hunters and outdoor recreation that must be addressed.”
Barrasso and his Republican co-signatories urged the Biden Administration to reverse course on the withholding of funding:
“We call on the Biden Administration to immediately withdraw the guidance and support these essential programs.”
The Left understands that the best way to create a massive anti-gun base is by corrupting the minds of the youth. Or at the very least by depriving them of school programs that teach them how to properly use firearms.
The education system is one venue that the gun controllers will seek to exploit in their effort to create a monolithically anti-gun order. To prevent this nightmare vision from becoming a reality, gun owners will have to keep tabs on the education system and ensure that anti-gunners don’t assume key positions in this apparatus.
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.