Young America's Foundation announced two new initiatives this week promoting Second Amendment rights for high school students across the country.
"First, for any school participating in a walk out or similar program that interrupts instructional time, Young America’s Foundation will help students host a lecture during an all-school assembly on gun safety and the importance of the Second Amendment. If schools use taxpayer-funded instructional time for political purposes to oppose a God-given freedom, it is only fair to provide an opportunity for an alternative educational lecture on gun safety and the Second Amendment," Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) National Chairman Grant Strobl released in a statement. "Second, Young Americans for Freedom will help students petition their administrators to permit school personnel to arm themselves."
The initiatives come after thousands of high school students, many pressured by teachers, participated in a pro-gun control walk-out this week in the wake of the Parkland shooting. A number of students refused to walk out and held pro-Second Amendment rallies at their schools.
"I have the deepest of sympathies for the families and loved ones of those brutally murdered in mass killings at any secondary school or university. These mass killings occur far too often, and it is time for practical solutions that impact the security of students now," he continued. "Instead of working toward real solutions to protect young Americans, leftist groups are organizing ‘walk outs’ to promote thoughtless policies that would dangerously erode the civil liberties upon which America is built. The Left is once again playing politics with tragedy: Using high school students as pawns to advance a political agenda is immoral and ignores practical solutions that could save lives. It is time for schools to implement practical measures to safeguard the next generation."
Young America's Foundation regularly sponsors speakers with pro-Second Amendment views.
“The shooting in Parkland was a clear failure of government, not the Second Amendment,” YAF Spokesman Spencer Brown said. “To attack the God-given right to arm and protect oneself in the wake of this tragedy is leftist scapegoating at its worst.”