Fox News contributor and former Trump administration White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany asked each GOP presidential candidate how they plan to protect students in America’s schools on Friday’s “Fox News Tonight.”
The question was simple: “What is your plan to protect America’s students? How do you intend to achieve that while keeping gun rights unabridged?”
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said he would focus on “the mental health epidemic in our country.”
Ramaswamy added: “Nearly every major mass shooting is committed by someone who grew up in a fatherless household.”
He believes Americans need to have “pro-family policies” and ban types of social media that are addicting for young children. Ramaswamy compared those regulations to those applied “for cigarettes.”
He also noted that each school needs to have three armed security guards.
We sent a survey question to the Republican presidential candidates, asking them about their plans to protect students in America’s schools.
Their answers on this important topic are below. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/eerDLfJhew
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) June 24, 2023
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley stated that schools need just “one point of entry.”
“We need to make sure we have a law enforcement officer in every single school,” Haley said.
Will this be a major difference between the candidates?
Yes: 77% (17 Votes)
No: 23% (5 Votes)
Haley also called for every school to have a guidance counselor and a mental health counselor.
“A lot of this is mental health-related,” she noted.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina believes safety is through education.
“I mean a good education is the closest thing to match it. I can’t think of anything more disruptive than not feeling safe in your own school,” Scott said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ press secretary sent a statement to Fox News that referenced measures the governor has already implemented in his state.
“Governor DeSantis takes school safety extremely seriously but rejects the left’s efforts to make this issue a vehicle for curtailing second amendment rights. As president, he will continue championing school safety and support local law enforcement entities to have every resource needed to keep students safe.”
The outlet played an audio clip of DeSantis that was referenced in the statement, where the governor spoke about using roughly $1 billion for school security and added, “Now, some of that is the school resource officers, which is important to have that presence. “
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign said his April remarks at the NRA answers the question.
The former president called for repealing ineffective laws and having a tax credit to reimburse teachers who purchased a concealed handgun.
“For about $12 billion we could fund armed security guards at the entrance to every school in America,” Trump said.
Former Vice President Mike Pence shared a similar view of the other candidates.
“I called on leaders in Washington, D.C., to forward and provide full funding to every public and private school in America to hire an armed and trained resource officer, and to do it now,” he said.
“We will protect all the God-given rights in our Constitution and we will provide the resources to hire armed, trained resource officers to protect our kids,” the former vice president noted.
McEnany noted some of the candidates did not respond and said they will eventually have to answer the question.
