DeVos: School safety panel will not look at role of guns

betsy-devos

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testifies during a Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations hearing to review the Fiscal Year 2019 funding request and budget justification for the U.S. Department of Education on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

betsy-devos

WASHINGTON (AP) — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says the federal commission on school safety set up after a Florida high school shooting won’t be looking at the role of guns in school violence.

DeVos is telling a congressional hearing that’s not part of the commission’s charge.

She adds, “We are actually studying school safety and how we can ensure our students are safe at school.”

At the same time, a fact sheet posted on the White House web site says the commission will study “age restrictions for certain firearm purchases” among other topics. The discrepancy was not immediately clear.

DeVos is chairing the panel that President Donald Trump created following the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen students were killed.