Tester to Introduce Bill to Reverse Biden Administration From Blocking Funding for School Hunting and Archery Programs

U.S. Senator Jon Tester announced today he will introduce the Defending Hunters Education Act, legislation that would force the Biden Administration to reverse course on their decision to prohibit the use of federal funds for school archery and hunting education classes.

“In Montana and across rural America, our schools have long offered shooting sport and hunter safety classes that teach our students safety and personal responsibility,” said Tester. “But bureaucrats in Washington who don’t understand our Montana values decided to block funding for these important gun safety programs. I won’t let that decision stand, and neither will the hundreds of students and gun safety teachers who benefit from these resources every year.”

Tester’s bill would require the Department of Education to restore school districts’ ability to use federal resources for school archery, gun safety, and hunter education programs.

As part of his longstanding efforts to protect Montanans’ Second Amendment rights, Tester last month expressed his immediate concerns in a letter to the Secretary of Education after learning the Department interpreted the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) in a way that would block federal funding from being used for these long-standing programs.

As a proud gun-owner and strong supporter of the Second Amendment, Tester has repeatedly opposed banning assault weapons and will always protect the rights of law-abiding Montana gun owners.