The Trump administration on Monday announced the launch of a new Federal School Safety Clearinghouse website, as President Donald Trump met with families of the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting almost two years ago in Parkland, Fla.
Almost immediately, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms announced its support of the effort, noting that it “focuses on actual school security without proposing restrictions on law-abiding firearms owners.”
According to an administration news release, “This website is a one-stop-shop of resources for Kindergarten through Grade 12 (K-12) administrators, educators, parents and law enforcement to use to prepare for and address various threats related to safety, security, and support in schools. President Trump established the Federal Commission on School Safety to review safety practices and make meaningful and actionable recommendations of best practices to keep students safe.”
“All students deserve a safe learning environment, and the Federal School Safety Clearinghouse is an essential resource for information and best practices,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who serves as chair of the School Safety Commission. “Because every school community has its own unique needs, SchoolSafety.gov equips decision makers with resources for developing, customizing, and implementing actionable school safety plans.”
Liberty Park Press visited the website, and found it to be easily navigated with several links that will allow school districts to essentially tailor information to their specific needs.
“We’re tired of seeing America’s honest firearms owners being made the scapegoats for horrible crimes they did not commit,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “The administration’s new effort appears to tackle the problem head-on, without all the nonsense rhetoric repeatedly espoused by the gun prohibition lobby.”
According to the administration news release, SchoolSafety.gov includes:
• The School Safety Readiness Tool, an assessment that assists users in evaluating their respective school’s safety posture across ten foundational elements of school safety. After completing the assessment, users are provided an action plan with task prioritization, options for consideration, aligned resources, and grant opportunities specific to individual needs;
• A Secure Information Sharing Platform for designated school personnel to share school safety ideas, practices, plans, and tactics in a protected environment; and
• A wide array of resources and best practices on key school safety topics to assist with building awareness within the school community to promote vigilance and build capacity to respond to incidents.
“Firearms owners are also parents, and you’ll find many teachers and school staff and administrators who are also responsible gun owners, and they are all just as interested in making schools safe as anyone else,” Gottlieb said in a prepared statement. “We are part of every community, and we are eager to find solutions and take action to prevent future tragedies.”
“School safety is the number one priority of parents across the country, which is why the President directed DHS and other federal agencies to form a taskforce and provide schools, teachers, parents, and law enforcement with resources to identify, prepare for, respond to, and mitigate threats, “said Chad Wolf, Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. “The Department provided expertise and resources on a range of school safety issues including threat assessments, physical security, emergency planning, and trainings and exercises designed to help schools and local law enforcement prepare for incidents. With these resources, schools and law enforcement will be better equipped to handle a crisis.”
“We think this is a step in the right direction,” CCRKBA’s Gottlieb said.
He criticized gun control proposals that have invariably followed tragic school shooting incidents. He said none of the proposals would have improved school safety, “nor would they have prevented the tragedy in Parkland.”
