Biden signs new rule aimed at reforming active-shooter drills in schools

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WASHINGTON — Around 95 percent of American students participate in mandated active-shooter drills. The requirements differ from state to state, with some mandating students shelter in place, while others use gunfire sound effects and prop guns to make the drills feel more realistic. Many students, parents and educators have reported the traumatizing effects of these drills and the lasting impact they have on young people, adding a new layer of pain to the American gun violence epidemic.

The Biden-Harris administration unveiled an executive order Thursday aimed in part at addressing concerns about “the trauma caused by some approaches to these drills,” Stefanie Feldman, the director of the White House’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention, said in a call Wednesday with reporters.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, with lawmakers, advocates for gun safety legislation and those whose lives have been impacted by gun violence, spoke Thursday at the White House. The crowd chanted “Thank you, Joe,” to the president, who is not running for a second term.

“Thank you all for the work that you do and the voice that you carry for so many who are not in this room right now, but deserve to be seen, deserve to be known, deserve to be heard,” said Harris, who leads the year-old Office of Gun Violence Prevention. “To all the leaders here, survivors, family members, loved ones, I believe the right to be safe is a civil right.”

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has toured American colleges and schools asking young people to raise their hands if they have ever participated in an active shooter drill; raised hands consistently fill these rooms.

In signing the executive order, Biden will direct the secretaries of Education, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services, as well as the attorney general and U.S. surgeon general to develop and publish within 110 days information regarding school-based active shooter drills, including a summary of existing research and gaps in research with the goal of helping schools improve drills to be more effective in preparing for active shooter situations while also preventing or minimizing trauma caused by them.

The executive order also aims to combat emerging firearms threats such as unserialized 3-D printed guns and machine gun conversion devices. It establishes a new federal task force that will issue a report in 90 days assessing existing federal abilities to detect and intercept these and creating an interagency plan to better protect against them.

Biden on Thursday called for reinstatement of the assault weapons ban and called for accountability for the gun industry.

“We need to be making clear, when we’re trying to talk about reducing crime and violence in America, we need to talk about guns in America,” Biden said.