Obama Education secretary: Boycotting schools would ‘shock the nation’ into changing gun laws

Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Tuesday elaborated on his suggestion that parents should pull their children out of school to force action on gun violence, saying the idea would “compel lawmakers to change.”

Duncan, who served as Education secretary from 2009 to 2015, acknowledged on CNN that the concept is “radical” and “provocative” and contradicts much of what he’s stood for during his time as a public official.

“But I just think as a nation we’re at a breaking point,” he said. 

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“What I’m talking about is an idea — for all the difficulty, for all the impracticality about it — I think would shock the nation, would create the kind of tension we’ve lacked, and we need to create tension to compel lawmakers to change,” he added.

Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan defends his call for a school boycott until gun laws change https://t.co/6ZQ8PLelnt pic.twitter.com/irjuYcFnnk

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 22, 2018

Duncan first made the suggestion last week, following the latest school shooting on Friday, where a gunman killed 10 people at a Santa Fe, Texas, high school. He called it “tragically necessary” for parents to protest gun violence by keeping their children out of school.

The Texas high school shooting was the latest instance of gun violence at schools this year. 

In February, a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

That shooting led to widespread calls for stricter gun laws, with the debate led largely by the students who survived the shooting.

Congress later passed a law strengthening the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), but has not addressed other pleas from advocates to limit access to certain types of guns.