Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has led a coalition of 24 states urging Congress to pass Representative Mark Green’s (R-TN-07) Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act.
General Skrmetti led a coalition of 24 states in urging Congress to enact the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act co-sponsored by @DrMarkGreen4TN. Read the letter here: https://t.co/wQVWRnoGLT pic.twitter.com/MrsiN6Hkbc
— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) August 11, 2023
Earlier this month, Green filed legislation that would reverse the Biden administration’s recent decision to defund school archery and hunting programs.
If enacted, Green’s bill would “amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to clarify that the prohibition on the use of Federal education funds for certain weapons does not apply to the use of such weapons for training in archery, hunting, or other shooting sports.”
The bill would essentially stop the U.S. Department of Education from threatening schools with the loss of ESEA funds for such programs.
In a letter to congressional leaders, Skrmetti and 23 other state attorneys general argued that forcing schools to end school archery and hunting programs by withholding funding makes it “more likely that children will act recklessly around firearms and thus harm themselves or others.”
“The National Archery in the Schools Program serves 1.3 million students in nearly 9,000 schools across 49 States, and the International Hunter Education Association reports that hunter education courses train and certify more than 500,000 students annually. Id. These activities teach students to act as good stewards of the environment and to approach firearms and other weapons cautiously,” the coalition wrote.
“Tennessee and the co-signing States encourage Congress to enact this commonsense legislation,” the attorneys general said.
In a separate statement, Skrmetti added, “Research increasingly shows that children who are more familiar with firearms and firearm safety rules are less likely to cause accidental shootings. The Department of Education should not target these useful safety courses, and I commend Congressman Green for taking action to protect responsible students.”
Shortly after filing his bill, Green told The Tennessee Star, “Washington bureaucrats are out of touch enough when it comes to our children. They shouldn’t be the ones deciding what elective classes our kids take. But that is exactly what’s happening now. Preventing students from learning how to handle bows and firearms safely does a disservice to communities that cherish this tradition.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Many thanks to AG Skrmetti. His hard work & accomplishments have been impressive.
I’d like to see him run for Governor of TN.
All fine and well but how about telling Lee to comply with Bruen and uphold the 2nd Amendment. He might want to point out to the Gov what our rights are in Art 1 of the TN Constitution and what Are XI, Section 16 says about not violating them for any reason. Apparently Lee has never read it or has and doesn’t care.
It seems that the current AG has done more good in a short period of time that the former one did during his entire tenure. I like this guy. Too bad there are not more elected and appointed officials like him. Take Bill Lee for example —- I sure wish someone would take him!!!!