It's A Start...But We Know More Can Be Done

9/16/2020
 

Late last week US Reps. Bill Parscrell (D-NJ-09) and Josh Gotteimer (D-NJ-05) secured $500,000 in federal grants to increase school safety for Teaneck school system's in Northern New Jersey. The grants will be used to implement card access control devices, CCTV monitoring cameras, building alarms, and visitor management systems.

We all want to keep our schools safe, but as we have seen time and time again reinforcing schools is only one aspect of the larger issue. This is a solid step in reducing gun violence in schools but as we can see from Rep. Pascrell's past record, he knows the kind of legislation that will truly decrease incidents of school shootings and should continue that fight to push more comprehensive measures.

Rep. Pascrell has long championed school safety measures in Congress and is a strong proponent of comprehensive state and federal gun control. Shortly after the Stoneman High School tragedy, Pascrell and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12) offered legislation to reinstate the Obama-era mental health background check for gun purchases that was rolled back by congressional Republicans and repealed by Donald Trump shortly after he entered office. Also in February 2018, Pascrell and Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL-07) reintroduced the Gun Violence Prevention and Safe Communities Act, which aims to combat gun violence through increased federal taxes on guns and ammunition and by closing tax and regulatory loopholes on some of the most popular and deadly firearms.


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