Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Monday that the new commission on school safety will take a look at increasing the age requirement to purchase all firearms.
“Everything is on the table, and part of the job of this commission will be to study that and see if that is advanced ultimately as a recommendation in next steps,” Ms. DeVos said on Fox News.
President Trump announced a new commission to look at school safety measures in the wake of the mass shooting at a high school in Florida last month. Raising the age limit to buy long-range guns is not currently in Mr. Trump’s proposed changes, but the president recently expressed support for the idea. Mr. Trump said Ms. DeVos would be in charge of spearheading his new commission.
She said that she sees other states around the country following in Florida’s footsteps, but that her group wants to study the different options more thoroughly before making a recommendation.
“I think that every state is looking in that same direction though Florida had, obviously, immediate motivation,” Ms. DeVos said.
Mr. DeVos said that Florida has done a “amazing job” tackling the issue of school safety after a mass school shooting last month left 17 people dead. Gov. Rick Scott and the state legislature passed a major school safety initiative last week that includes an increased age limit to purchase firearms.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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