OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The father of a teen shot to death at a Florida high school in 2018 blasted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday after the New York Democrat refused to allow debate on a GOP-sponsored bill aimed at bolstering school security following another massacre this week in Uvalde, Texas.
Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son was killed during the mass shooting at Marjory Stone Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Valentine’s Day, told Fox News he was “heartbroken” by Schumer’s decision to block legislation partly named after his boy.
Fox News notes:
The bill, named after Alex Schachter and Luke Hoyer, another Parkland, Florida, shooting victim, would require the Department of Homeland Security to establish a “Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices” for use by state and local educational and law-enforcement agencies, institutions of higher education, health professionals, and the public. And it would require DHS to “collect clearinghouse data analytics, user feedback on the implementation of best practices and recommendations identified by the clearinghouse, and any evaluations conducted on these best practices and recommendations.”
The clearinghouse, which is already set up at SchoolSafety.gov, would be codified into law upon the bill’s passage.
But Schumer rejected it, writing on Twitter: “GOP Sen. Johnson just tried for a bill that could see more guns in schools—I blocked it. The truth: There were officers at the school in Texas. The shooter got past them. We need real solutions—We will vote on gun legislation starting with the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act.”
GOP Sen. Johnson just tried for a bill that could see more guns in schools—I blocked it.
The truth: There were officers at the school in Texas. The shooter got past them.
We need real solutions—We will vote on gun legislation starting with the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 25, 2022
Schachter, whose son was one of 17 people murdered, said Schumer’s tweet is “completely false.”
“How does a website put guns in schools? It’s ridiculous,” Schachter told Fox News Digital. “It has nothing to do with guns. It’s just a website of best practices. It doesn’t mandate anything.”
“I thought that after 19 children and two teachers were just murdered in Uvalde, Texas, partisan politics will be put aside and that families might at least have some positive news out of Congress from their elected leaders,” he said. “I was naive to think that a horrible mass shooting would make people do the right thing. And unfortunately, you know, he didn’t. He blocked it.”
“It’s heartbreaking,” he added.
Republicans also took Schumer to task and called him out for the alleged untruth.
Johnson tweeted: “Not surprising that the Democrat leader would lie about the bill he blocked that parents of Parkland victims have been trying to pass for years. Dems aren’t looking for solutions, they want wedge issues that they hope will keep them in power. Sick.”
Not surprising that the Democrat leader would lie about the bill he blocked that parents of Parkland victims have been trying to pass for years.
Dems aren’t looking for solutions, they want wedge issues that they hope will keep them in power. Sick. https://t.co/f4zbNb03ey
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) May 26, 2022
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a co-sponsor of the bill, took to Twitter to rip Schumer as “a liar and a hack.”
“This was a bill I worked on with the parents of Parkland victims. It’s named after them. You’re a liar and a hack,” he wrote.
This was a bill I worked on with the parents of Parkland victims. It’s named after them. You’re a liar and a hack. https://t.co/WKFMLTjT4x
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) May 25, 2022
Another co-sponsor, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted: “The truth: Schumer blocked a bipartisan bill [that] makes the school safety clearinghouse schoolsafety.gov permanent because radical left wing activists oppose it.”
The truth: Schumer blocked a bipartisan bill the makes the school safety clearinghouse https://t.co/rvfUl0d7sA permanent because radical left wing activists oppose it https://t.co/V0Lx9GwRx4
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 25, 2022
