Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti Leads Coalition Urging Congress to Enact the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act
Nashville – Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led a coalition of 24 states in urging Congress to protect funding for school archery, hunting, and firearm safety courses by enacting the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act, co-sponsored by Tennessee Congressman Mark Green (TN-07).
The letter comes immediately after the U.S. Department of Education at least for these courses, perhaps threatening the complete loss of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) funding for schools that offer such educational opportunities. ESEA is the primary source of federal aid for elementary and secondary education.
The coalition explains that forcing schools to end these programs by withholding funding makes it more likely that children will act recklessly around firearms and thus harm themselves or others.
“Research increasingly shows that children who are more familiar with firearms and firearm safety rules are less likely to cause accidental shootings,” General Skrmetti said. “The Department of Education should not target these useful safety courses, and I commend Congressman Green taking action to protect responsible students.”
The States respectfully ask Congress to listen to growing bipartisan concern about the Department of Education’s stance and solve this problem through enacting commonsense legislation, rather than forcing the States to end the Department’s overreach through litigation.
General Skrmetti was joined in signing the letter by attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Read the letter in its entirety here.
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