{"id":490,"date":"2018-03-07T08:48:41","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T13:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=490"},"modified":"2018-03-08T08:53:32","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T13:53:32","slug":"with-gun-control-nearing-a-dead-end-g-o-p-turns-to-school-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=490","title":{"rendered":"With Gun Control Nearing a Dead End, G.O.P. Turns to \u2018School Safety\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON \u2014 Republican leaders, turning away from significant gun control legislation, have shifted instead toward measures that would beef up security at the nation\u2019s schools, hoping the push will quell public uproar over the recent massacre in Parkland, Fla.<\/p>\n

But as students and parents from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School continue their own organizing, the school safety strategy is unlikely to end the debate. Democrats and gun control advocates accused Republicans and the National Rifle Association of using school safety to divert attention from what they see as the real issue: the proliferation of guns that have been used in mass shootings at concerts, in movie theaters, on college campuses, in churches and at workplaces, as well as at public schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time, the gun rights crowd messed with the wrong community, the wrong kids and the wrong dad,\u201d said Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed at the school. He added, \u201cI intend to be a part of breaking this gun lobby.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Republican-controlled House plans to vote next week on the STOP School Violence Act, a bill that would authorize $50 million annually for safety improvements, including training teachers and students in how to prevent violence and developing anonymous reporting systems for threats of school violence.<\/p>\n

The bill, drafted by Representative John Rutherford, a Republican and former sheriff from Jacksonville, Fla., is one of a flurry of bipartisan measures introduced in the House and the Senate devoted to school safety \u2014 without curbs on guns. In the Senate, a companion bill would also give schools money for physical improvements, such as installing metal detectors or bulletproof doors.<\/p>\n

And Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the chairman of the Senate education committee, introduced his own school safety measure on Wednesday. His bill would allow 100,000 public schools to use federal dollars for school counselors, alarm systems, security cameras and crisis intervention training.<\/p>\n

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos threw her weight behind what she said was the only approach that could muster broad support after a brief but contentious visit on Wednesday to Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and faculty were gunned down on Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s an opportunity to take some practical steps that many, many people agree on and continue pushing forward on things that have broad support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But as the midterm election season begins, the school safety votes may only be an opening volley.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Republicans would like to have the public think they\u2019re doing something and have the N.R.A. think they\u2019re doing nothing,\u201d said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in the House.<\/p>\n

Gun control has long been one of the most divisive and contentious issues in Washington, and the rush to legislate on school safety reflects the difficulty of passing measures that have anything to do with guns. On Wednesday, students advocating gun safety legislation\u00a0staged a sit-in outside the office of Senator Mitch McConnell<\/a>\u00a0of Kentucky, the Republican leader, chanting \u201cEnough is enough!\u201d and \u201cNot one more!\u201d Eight\u00a0were arrested<\/a>, police said.<\/p>\n

But most gun safety proposals \u2014 including expanding background checks for gun purchases, raising the minimum age for buying rifles to 21 from 18, banning assault-style weapons like the AR-15 used by the gunman in Parkland and taking guns away from people deemed mentally unfit \u2014 appear to be going nowhere on Capitol Hill. President Trump\u2019s mercurial statements have not helped. At a televised White House session,\u00a0he appeared to back broad gun control legislation<\/a>, only to\u00a0muddy his position after an evening meeting with the N.R.A.\u2019s chief lobbyist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One exception is the Fix NICS Act, a modest measure that would offer incentives to states and federal agencies to improve reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, for gun purchasers. The measure, which is backed by the N.R.A., has already passed the House and has broad bipartisan support in the Senate.<\/p>\n

But even that legislation is facing a hurdle: Mr. McConnell cannot bring it up quickly for a vote because Senate rules require unanimous consent to do so, and at least one senator, Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, has objected. And while Mr. McConnell is a co-sponsor of the Senate\u2019s version of the STOP School Violence Act, he has not said when the Senate will consider it.<\/p>\n

The Senate\u2019s chief sponsor of the STOP School Violence Act, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, said in an interview Wednesday that his aim was to focus on \u201cspecial programs and special approaches toward making these schools safer and more acceptable to the families and kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Democrats who consider the measure insufficient, Mr. Hatch said: \u201cThat\u2019s their motif every time. I mean, they know that if they can raise hell against guns and so forth, that that gives them a lot of publicity. But that doesn\u2019t necessarily help us in our educational processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut and a co-sponsor of Mr. Hatch\u2019s bill, said he did not want the Senate to lose sight of more far-reaching legislation that would address gun violence head-on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a useful bill, but it doesn\u2019t have anything to do with gun laws,\u201d Mr. Murphy said. \u201cAnybody whose only solution to the school shooting epidemic is to make our schools fortresses doesn\u2019t understand the root of this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, also welcomed efforts to increase safety measures and resources, but she said legislators and Mr. Trump had used it deflect from the larger demands of the public, including students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who had been in the forefront of gun control advocacy since the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids from Stoneman Douglas said, \u2018Do certain common-sense, gun violence reduction measures \u2014 don\u2019t change the subject,\u2019\u201d Ms. Weingarten said.<\/p>\n

While Republicans were talking about school safety, Senate Democrats on Thursday sought to keep the focus on guns. Senators Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, and Bill Nelson of Florida, convened a Democrats-only afternoon hearing to take testimony from those affected by gun violence.<\/p>\n

Among the witnesses were Mr. Guttenberg and David Hogg, a 17-year-old Stoneman Douglas senior who has become a vocal national spokesman for gun control.<\/p>\n

In Parkland on Wednesday, Ms. DeVos was greeted less than enthusiastically by many students, who took to social media to complain that she did not have any substantive interactions with them. (Dwyane Wade, a basketball star for the Miami Heat who visited after Ms. DeVos, got a much warmer reception.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought she would at least give us her \u2018thoughts and prayers,\u2019 but she refused to even meet\/speak with students. I don\u2019t understand the point of her being here,\u201d\u00a0tweeted\u00a0<\/a>Carly Novell, editor of the student newspaper, The Eagle Eye,\u00a0which covered the secretary\u2019s visit.<\/a><\/p>\n

Another student, Aly Sheehy, tweeted, \u201cDo something unexpected: answer our questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Education Department said that Ms. DeVos visited some students and teachers and laid a wreath, and that her visit was developed with the principal\u2019s recommendations in mind to \u201cprovide minimal disruption on students\u2019 first full day back in the school.\u201d In her news conference, Ms. DeVos said she promised student journalists that she would return to meet with them.<\/p>\n