House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced Tuesday the lower chamber will vote on a school safety bill next week in the wake of the fatal shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February.
The legislation — spearheaded by GOP Rep. John Rutherford of Florida and Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida — aims to curb school violence by creating a grant program to train students, school officials and local law enforcement on how to identify and intervene on potential threats.
“You all know Sheriff Rutherford, former sheriff of Jacksonville, he has a bill, the Stop School Violence Act,” McCarthy told reporters Tuesday. “This is students, teachers, officers preventing school violence. We will have that bill up on the floor next week that we will add to along with the Fix NICS bill that we have sitting over in the Senate.”
The House passed the Fix NICS legislation — which is meant to strengthen the background check system used to vet those looking to purchase firearms — last year, but it faced difficulty in the Senate due to its language on concealed carry.
McCarthy noted FBI officials are slated to meet with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Judiciary Committee to discuss the failures made by law enforcement that led to 17 deaths and 14 injuries during the Feb. 14 attack.
Dates for the committee hearing have not yet been announced.