Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) on Friday told The Hill that he believes Congress should get rid of gun-free school zones.
Asked how President Trump’s suggestion of arming teachers could work with the Gun-Free School Zones Act, Cole said schools “seem to be more like targets than gun-free zones.”
“Well we should get rid of that,” the former National Republican Congressional Committee chairman told The Hill when asked about the 1990 Act that bans firearms in or within 1,000 feet of schools should be repealed.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced the “Safe Schools Act” last year to end the federal gun-free zone law. The measure, H.R. 34, has six co-sponsors one of which is Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), who added his name nearly two weeks after the shooting at a school in Parkland, Fla.
Earlier this week, a school district in east Kentucky took a step toward allowing teachers to carry firearms.
Former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) — who represents Pike County — explained to The Hill that, ”the school board has just requested of the sheriff to begin the procedure to allow teachers to carry concealed weapons.”
If other school boards, localities and states take similar steps, Cole — a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee — predicts Congress will handle the matter as it has with states that allow medicinal and recreational use of marijuana — still an illegal substance on a federal level.
“I think the federal government is not likely to enforce (the gun-free zone act), this is a government that doesn’t enforce its own marijuana laws if people actually vote inside the state to legalize it. So, I think the same thing would apply here,” said Cole, who is vying for top spot on the GOP appropriations committee in the next Congress.
