Democrat Jon Tester Laments Effects of Gun Control Bill He Helped Pass

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), who is up for reelection in 2024, explained in an op-ed released on Tuesday how he will fight the effects of a gun control bill he helped pass.

Tester wrote about how his bipartisan bill, the Defending Hunters’ Education Act, would require the Department of Education to restore school districts’ ability to use federal dollars for school archery as well as gun safety and hunter education programs.

The Biden administration, through the Department of Education (DOE), interpreted the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), to bar federal funding for these programs. In his op-ed, Tester claimed that the administration is “misinterpreting” the BSCA.

The BSCA includes a provision that prohibits funds from helping any person with a dangerous weapon or providing “training in the use of a dangerous weapon.”

Yet, Tester voted for the legislation that gave the Biden administration the authority to crack down on these programs.

Even though Tester has introduced bipartisan legislation to undo the effects of the gun control bill he helped pass, it remains uncertain if the bill is likely to pass through Congress. It would require 60 votes in the Senate, and it would require a majority to pass through the House.

Hunting and Second Amendment groups such as the Safari Club International, National Shooting Sports Foundation, International Order of T. Roosevelt, Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation, and the National Rifle Foundation have slammed the Biden rule.

Now, facing reelection and reeling from the effects of his support for a gun control bill, it appears the Montana Democrat seeks to undo the effects of that support for gun control.

He wrote:

The bottom line is that anyone who has ever lived in rural America would know that shooting sports and hunting are simply part of our Montana way of life. Efforts to strip these school safety courses are just the latest example of folks in Washington not understanding our rural communities, and I’ll do everything in my power to stop them in their tracks.

Tester added, “Our Montana way of life is worth defending. It’s what I’ve always done, and it’s what I’ll continue to do.”