DeVos questioned about NRA influence over school safety panel

The Education Department on Tuesday denied that the National Rifle Association is playing any role in a White House school safety commission, after a leading Democratic senator raised questions about the organization’s influence.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate education committee, in a letter pressed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos about whether the NRA was “involved in setting the scope of the commission’s work” or if any member of the commission has met with the NRA.

Murray said that in an earlier letter, in March, she expressed concern the commission would try to shift public attention away from gun safety reforms. “I also expressed concern that in our private meeting, you could not assure me that the National Rifle Association (NRA) would not influence the Commission’s process,” she wrote DeVos.

A DeVos spokeswoman, Liz Hill, responded the NRA “will have absolutely no say and no sway” over the commission and charged Murray with “grandstanding.”

She said, “The commission set an aggressive schedule of meetings, field visits and public listening session to gather valuable input from stakeholders across the country. The commission will produce a report by year’s end that will serve as a resource guide for schools on proven practices that are working across the country to improve school safety.”

DeVos chairs the Federal Commission on School Safety, launched by the Trump administration after the Valentine’s Day school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

Murray in the letter also asked how the commission’s first listening session, which was held last week, came together. She said it was assembled with “inadequate advance notice” and left “too little time for many students, community members, educators” and others to register for the event or make travel arrangements to attend.

Hill said in a statement, “There was no criteria for participating in the listening session. Participants signed up on a first-come, first-served basis. Both the morning and the afternoon slot filled up fully, with parents, educators and major stakeholder groups alike well represented.”

Hill added, “Senator Murray’s grandstanding does nothing to keep our nation’s students safe at school, while the federal commission on school safety is hard at work on behalf of our nations students and educators.”

Murray also criticized DeVos for not attending the listening session and, instead, embarking on a 10-day trip to study apprenticeship programs in Europe. The commission is made up of DeVos, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. None of them was present for the listening session.

DeVos’ deputy secretary, Mick Zais, and representatives from Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and the Justice Department heard from witnesses at the daylong event.

Zais stressed at the listening session that the commission will consider “narrow aspects of gun ownership” after DeVos sparked criticism among Democrats and gun control advocates when she told Congress that potential changes to gun laws won’t be on the agenda.

Murray on Tuesday asked how the commission determined which “narrow aspects of gun ownership” it will study.

In launching the school safety commission earlier this year, the White House listed “age restrictions for certain firearm purchases” among other things the commission will consider.

“The secretary and the commission continue to look at all issues the President asked the committee to study and are focused on making recommendations that the agencies, states and local communities can implement,” Hill said. “The Deputy Secretary made this abundantly clear during the last listening session. If Senator Murray wants to change gun laws in this country, she should look to her own body, since Congress makes laws, not the commission.”

The White House school safety panel is expected to hold three more public listening sessions.

The original story can be found here.