Sen. Rand Paul introduces bill to support funding for hunting and archery programs

HAZARD, Ky. (WYMT) – The Biden Administration announced plans recently to withhold money from schools that have hunting and archery programs.

On Thursday, Senator Rand Paul announced that he would continue fighting back against the restraints on Kentucky values and these school programs.

It is called the Educating Responsible Future Hunters Act.

A form of legislation that Senator Rand Paul said would protect Kentucky archery and hunting programs.

“They are appointing people. Not mainstream Americans, not middle-of-the-road Americans that don’t have an agenda. They are appointing people that have an agenda. So, the people that are being appointed are people that think all guns are bad and should be confiscated,” he said.

Senator Paul added that approximately 500,000 students participate and are certified through hunter education courses each year and it is important to support programs that teach and educate younger generations about how to handle firearms safely.

“I guess people who have never really been around guns or never really been around hunting,” said Paul. “You know, think that chicken nuggets are some kinds of things that come out of a machine not from a chicken actually. They just aren’t aware of where we get our food or how we get our food.”

He added that he knows many stories of students in our region who have a passion for the sport, and they are thankful to get to enjoy archery even while they are at school.

“I just don’t think they are thinking this through, but I think that this is one of those things that may backfire on them as it spreads throughout the country. When people become aware that they are banning these archery programs. There are going to be a lot of unhappy parents,” he said. “This doesn’t have to be a republican or democrat thing. You know have to be in archery because you are in one party or another. For a lot of people, it just means you come from a smaller or more rural community.”

The news release about the new proposed legislation said that U.S. Representative Andy Ogles, R-TN, has plans to introduce companion legislation in the house.