Press Releases

– Congressman David Rouzer (NC-07) released the following statement on consideration of gun control legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives: 

"It’s a shame that House Democrats want to use the Uvalde school shooting to enact unconstitutional gun restrictions on law-abiding citizens rather than come to the table and work in a bipartisan way.  We need solutions to improve school security and address the root causes of this type of heinous and senseless act.   

"We have a crisis of the heart and mind among some of our youth resulting from a variety of issues — everything from a bad home life to mental health issues to drug abuse to the garbage consumed from violent, desensitizing, and degrading content absorbed by the mind.

"Only when we address these underlying societal issues with moral clarity will substantial progress be made.  In the meantime, I strongly support and am a co-sponsor of legislation to better fortify our schools and put in place well trained counselors as well as school resource officers.  These initiatives would make a very meaningful difference." 

Solutions Congressman Rouzer supports to address gun violence and school safety include:

• H.R. 7966 – the STOP II, Secure Every School and Protect our Nation’s Children Act.  This legislation builds on the STOP School Violence Act signed into law in 2018 to fund $1 billion for school resource officers, $1 billion for mental health guidance counselors, and $5 billion for hardening schools, active shooter training, and training for law enforcement, school officials, and students to intervene before a student reaches a breaking point. The $7 billion legislation is paid for with already approved, yet unused COVID-19 funds.
• H.R. 6712 – the School Resource Officer Act of 2022.  This legislation authorizes the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program in the Department of Justice at $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2026.  Not less than 30 percent of funding for hiring programs within the COPS program will be used to pay the salaries and benefits of school resource officers.
• H.R. 6132 – the Public Safety Enhancement Act of 2021.  This legislation would provide grant funding to hire an additional 100,000 police officers within the next five years. 
• H.R. 2717 – the Safer Schools Act of 2021.  This legislation would establish two new grant programs that fund vulnerability assessments and physical security improvements to improve the safety of students and teachers in the classroom.