It’s almost like a page right out of the National Rifle Association playbook: The Obama administration has announced millions of dollars in funding to put armed officers in the nation’s schools.
Specifically, the Department of Justice said $45 million is going to “create 356 new school resource officer positions,” CNN reported. The money is coming from Community Oriented Policing Services grant dollars — and first up on the list of intended recipients is Newtown, Conn., the site of the massive Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The money to Newtown will fund two new officers in the town’s schools, Breitbart reported.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said of the grants: “In the wake of past tragedies, it’s clear that we need to be willing to take all possible steps to ensure that our kids are safe when they go to school.”
But the NRA was way ahead on that belief. Just days after the Sandy Hook shooting occurred, Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president and chief executive officer, suggested more armed guards inside the schools. He said that “we protect our banks … airports, office buildings, power plants [and] sports stadiums [with] armed security.” Why not kids in schools?
As Breitbart reported in December — in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre and the Obama administration’s pledge to crack down on guns and Second Amendment rights — the president’s own children attend a school that staffs armed security guards. At Sidwell Friends School in Washington, 11 armed guards patrol the campus grounds. At the time of the report, the school was in process of hiring two more.
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• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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