ATLANTA — After a person entered a Nashville school and killed three children and three adults before they were shot and killed by police Monday, the gun debate is back on the table once again.
In the U.S. House of Representatives – lawmakers have passionately debated for or against more restrictive gun laws.
That includes Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
"Yeah, I was, when I was in 11th grade and Joe Biden made our schools gun-free school zones, one of the students in my school brought three guns to school and our entire school went on lockdown because he was the only person with a gun. There was no good guy with a gun to protect us kids at school," Rep. Greene claimed at a Wednesday committee meeting.
Some viewers are now questioning Rep. Greene's timeline.
Question
Did then-Senator Joe Biden change school gun laws during Marjorie Taylor Greene’s school years?
Sources
- The United States House of Representatives Archives
- Gun-Free Zones Act of 1990
- The Congressional Archives
- Previous 11Alive reports on the 1990 South Forsyth High School standoff
Answer
No, Joe Biden did not change school gun laws during Marjorie Taylor Greene’s school years.
What we found
According to the U.S. House of Representatives Archives, Rep. Greene was born in 1974 – and graduated from South Forsyth High School in 1992.
In the House Oversight Committee Wednesday – Rep. Greene claimed when she was in 11th grade in 1990 that Joe Biden made schools gun-free school zones.
That happened under the Gun-Free Zones Act of 1990. It was sponsored by Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl.
This legislation bans guns within 1,000 feet of the grounds of a public, parochial and private school.
Joe Biden started his time in the U.S. Senate in 1973. While Biden was an active Senator, he was not a co-sponsor of the gun-free zone legislation.
Biden’s name also did not appear on a list of co-sponsors when Senator Kohl introduced the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1995. The new version was necessary after the Supreme Court ruled that the 1990 law was unconstitutional.
According to archived footage from 11Alive, in September 1990 – there was a standoff at South Forsyth County High School. An armed student held hostages from two separate classrooms.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »