Money earmarked for thousands of new IRS employees would be transferred to a grant program allowing schools nationwide to hire armed law enforcement personnel under legislation outlined Tuesday by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.
The School Guardian Act would take about $80 billion that Congress previously approved to expand the tax agency and spend it instead on efforts to deter and respond to school shootings such as the 2018 massacre in Parkland, Florida in which 17 people were killed. Parents of those victims said they support Scott’s bill.
“If we can’t prevent them, then we know having an armed response on campus is the fastest way to stop these attacks,” said Ryan Petty, a state Board of Education member whose 14-year-old daughter, Alaina, died in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. “This bill is incredibly important.”
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