Republicans introduce bill to defend federal funding for firearm safety, hunting and archery school programs

Two federal lawmakers introduced legislation on Thursday to allow schools to fund firearm safety, hunting education and archery programs.

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tennessee, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, introduced the Educating Responsible Future Hunters Act to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1964 (ESEA), which currently prohibits the use of “elementary and secondary education funds to provide any person with a dangerous weapon or training in the use of a dangerous weapon.” 

The Biden administration has misinterpreted the ESEA to apply to school hunting and archery programs, critics say, effectively stripping funding from such programs. 

“The Biden Administration is using the same provision I fought to have stripped from the gun control bill to wrongly justify their assault on Kentucky students’ hunting and archery programs,” Paul said in a press release. “My Educating Responsible Future Hunters Act permanently removes that provision and ensures the Administration’s baseless attack on Kentucky and American values ends at the federal level.” 

Ogles argued that local schools should have the freedom to offer firearm safety, hunting and archery courses without federal interference.  

“The federal government has no business imposing federal restrictions on local schools that choose to offer programs to educate students on firearm safety and the skills required for hunting and archery,” Ogles said in the same press release. “I’m pleased to be able to join Dr. Paul in this effort to push back against the Biden Administration’s proposed block of federal funds for schools that offer these extracurricular courses.” 

Earlier this month, 18 Senate Republicans and Democrats sent letters to the Biden administration objecting to its announced plans to strip funding from schools.  

However, many schools have already cut their archery, hunting education and wilderness courses to meet federal guidelines to be eligible for funding, according to Fox News. 

Mark Jones of Gun Owners of America’s Second Amendment Hunters said this isn’t the first time Biden has tried to regulate recreational shooting.  

“Biden’s war on hunters and recreational shooters has been elevated to unprecedented heights by blocking these funds that have supported firearm safety programs in American schools for nearly six decades,” Jones said, reported Fox News.  

“We fully support the Educating Responsible Future Hunters Act to stop Biden’s attack and restore these important programs that provide untold benefits to millions of school children each year.” 

In June, the Biden administration announced plans to prohibit certain hunting equipment from being used on national wildlife refuges, earning disapproval from sportsmen groups.  

“Every year, there’s a hunt and fish rule that comes out at the end of the season,” Benjamin Cassidy, executive vice president for the pro-hunting Safari Club International, told Fox News. “When I was in the [Trump] administration, these were big packages to celebrate opening of access, expanding opportunities for access. 

“Since this [Biden] administration’s been in, the numbers have shrunk every year to lower numbers. It’s really just kind of been masking tape over what’s really been bans,” Cassidy continued. “We’ve seen millions of acres closed and we’ve seen lead bans being put in place.”