Sen. Marshall Votes Against “Gun Grabbing Scheme”

(Washington, D.C., June 23, 2022) – Today, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. voted against the gun reform legislation before the U.S. Congress. Having already provided practical solutions to the issue of school safety through his Safe Schools Act and with legislation to strengthen the background check system, Senator Marshall released this statement:

“Kansans expect me to protect their Constitutional freedoms in the U.S. Senate, and I will not sacrifice those freedoms for this gun grabbing scheme. Red flag laws not only violate the Second Amendment, but they are also begging to be abused by individuals who do not have a shred of respect for due process. I do not doubt that the corrupt, political actors who have infiltrated the American legal system at various levels would happily oblige. All of this leads to law-abiding Americans being stripped of their Second Amendment rights,” said Senator Marshall. “On top of all of that, this bill provides funds to school based health centers that promote abortions. The authors also want to Rob Peter to pay Paul by delaying the Medicare rebate rule as a pay-for. These rebates should be going to our seniors to help with their prescription drug costs – not to pay for a bill that infringes on the 2nd Amendment. Why and how these provisions were tucked into this legislation is gravely concerning.”

Background:

• On June 9, Senator Marshall introduced the Safe Schools Act, legislation to allow COVID relief dollars allocated to schools through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund to be used by schools to harden themselves with physical security measures, such as locks, panic buttons, individual room security systems, video surveillance, and hiring and paying the salaries of armed school resource officers. The legislation will exempt expenses for school security improvements from current ESSER guidelines that require expenses to be related to COVID-19.
• The Kansas Department of Education has only spent $261.3 million of the $1.28 billion funds awarded under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund.
• Nationwide, of the $189.5 billion of COVID money awarded under ESSER, State Education Agencies have yet to spend $150.1 billion (79.2%).
• There were 67 disrupted plots against K-12 schools from 2006-2018 – 66% of the schools had no system for alerting officials to concerning or threatening.
• Support has grown for Senator Marshall’s Safe Schools Act including 18 Senate cosponsors. Additionally, it has been endorsed by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, ZeroEyes, the Door and Hardware Institute, the Security Industry Association, as well as Kansas Rep. Kristey Williams and Kansas Sen. Renee Erickson.
• Senator Marshall supported the STOP School Violence Act, which provides funding for schools to identify threats and invest in security equipment and technology. This was signed into law during his time in Congress and has resulted in many schools being hardened.
• Senator Marshall supported the Fix NICS Act, which strengthened the background check system by offering federal funds for states and federal agencies to improve reporting of criminal records to NICS. This bill was signed into law during his time in Congress.
• Additionally, Senator Marshall introduced legislation that would encourage responsible gun ownership by offering tax incentives to Americans who take firearm safety courses and invest in securing their firearms.

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