An unorthodox gun control proposal being floated by a centrist Atlanta Democrat is raising eyebrows on both sides of Capitol Hill.
U.S. Rep. David Scott said he is developing legislation that would allow governors to deploy National Guard members to protect schools from gun violence.
The eight-term lawmaker, who represents many of Atlanta’s south and western suburbs, said the proposal is still in its infancy – there is no legislative text yet as he works out the details with legislative lawyers. But Scott said it would be a better alternative to arming teachers, a concept President Donald Trump has backed in recent weeks.
“We’ve got a resource … that is there to be called out for emergency situations,” Scott said of the National Guard. “This is an emergency situation and I am determined to do everything I can.”
He said he does not intend for guardsmen to be stationed permanently at schools.
Scott's is one of countless gun control proposals that have emerged on Capitol Hill in the aftermath of last month's mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school. Despite repeated calls from President Donald Trump for Congress to act, members remain deadlocked on the subject.
Scott’s proposal was quickly dismissed by stakeholders from many sides of the gun debate.
“I don’t think our schools need to become armed camps,” said his Democratic colleague, Hank Johnson of Lithonia.
Patrick Parsons, executive director Georgia Gun Owners, said he did not think Scott's proposal was "necessary."
“I don’t think we need to more or less militarize our schools,” Parsons said, “that’s what that (bill) would do.”
The idea being floated by Scott is a novel one.
Trump, Fox News host Sean Hannity and others have floated the idea of posting veterans at schools to deter would-be shooters, but few lawmakers –and particularly not Democrats—have been willing to broach the contentious subject of stationing active military at schools.
A member of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition, Scott most recently received a ‘D’ rating from the NRA on its legislative report card. That’s a higher grade than many of his Democratic colleagues, including Johnson and Atlanta Democrat John Lewis, who both received ‘F’s.
Scott this week said he wanted to pair his proposal with an assault weapons plan, a concept backed by many other Democrats but vehemently opposed by Republicans and the NRA.
Several Georgia Republicans, including Karen Handel of Roswell and Doug Collins of Gainesville, backed a bill that seeks to improve reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Other urged Congress to go even further -- Johnson said lawmakers should pass a bill mandating universal background checks for gun purhcasers.
Meanwhile, Parsons of Georgia Gun Owners said one of the most effective things Congress could pass was an NRA-backed bill that would repeal the 1990 law that designates school zones as gun-free.
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