WASHINGTON, D.C.—In case you missed it, Senator Rick Scott shared the following story from USA Today after yesterday’s announcement of his School Guardian Act. The School Guardian Act creates a block grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice to support the hiring of one or more law enforcement officers to provide full-time security at every K-12 school in the country. This bill builds on Senator Scott’s efforts as Governor of Florida to improve school safety with increased law enforcement and security measures following the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.

Reporting for USA Today, Candy Woodall writes, “Sen. Rick Scott on Tuesday took action in response to the recent Nashville school shooting that looks a lot like what he did as Florida governor after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.

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‘The recent shooting of innocent children and educators in Nashville showed us that we need to do better to keep our schools safe, and that starts by bringing effective ideas like our Guardian Program to every school across our nation,’ Scott said during a news conference Tuesday. 

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The act would divert $80 billion designated for the IRS to a national grant program that would provide one or more full-time, armed officers in every K-12 school across the country.

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Some of the parents who lost their children in the Parkland, Florida shooting five years ago support Scott's plan and joined him at the Tuesday news conference. 

‘If we can’t prevent them, then we know having an armed response on campus is the fastest way to stop these attacks,’ said Ryan Petty, a state Board of Education member whose 14-year-old daughter, Alaina, died in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. ‘This bill is incredibly important.’

‘No family should have to go through the indescribable heartbreak of having their child or spouse murdered at school,’ said Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina died in the Parkland shooting. ‘It is essential that parents feel comfortable sending kids to school every day.’”

Read the full article in USA Today HERE.

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