The Illinois House passed a plan Friday to replace school armed guards with unarmed mental health workers.
On April 19, Breitbart News reported that House Democrats were pushing a plan that provided financial rewards for schools that hired therapists instead of armed guards.
The AP reported that Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s (D-Westchester) HB4208 “would allow schools to apply to an optional grant if they promise to reallocate funding for school-based law enforcement to mental health services, including social workers.” They would also have the option of redirecting the funding to other non-security measures “designed to promote school safety and healthy environments.”
The bill had trouble gaining momentum because it put schools in a place where they “could only get money if they stopped funding police officers.” Welch struck that funding restriction from the bill and it passed by a vote of 64-25.
The Hill reports that the HB4208, as passed, rewards schools that choose to hire social workers but does not apply any monetary punishment to those that choose to hire armed officers instead.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange
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