On December 1, the U.S. government for the first time ever granted nearly $1,000,000 to a university to develop a national, nonpartisan education program on the Second Amendment.
“Our project will honor the nation’s 250th anniversary by allowing educators to engage with the complexity and nuance of the country’s founding documents,” Firearms Research Center Executive Director Ashley Hlebinsky said in the university’s press release. “As the nation approaches its semiquincentennial, the ability to not only possess an intellectually rigorous grasp of constitutional text, structure and jurisprudence, but also to respectfully discuss and debate with those who possess a range of beliefs, has never been greater.”
The University of Wyoming announced that the two-year grant in the amount of $908,991, was awarded to the Firearms Research Center in the University of Wyoming’s College of Law, noting that it was received from the Department of Education’s American History and Civics Education Program.
Titled, “Armed with Knowledge: A Nonpartisan Second Amendment Initiative,” the university says the program goal “…aims to fill a gap in contemporary civics curricula, furnishing educators with resources and tools to better understand the historical context and have modern discussions about the Second Amendment.”
Established in 2023, the university’s Firearms Research Center is described as, “a nonpartisan research institution with a mission to promote education, constitutional literacy and legal-historical scholarship regarding the Second Amendment.”
The press release states that the grant will be used to, “develop a national program that will provide secondary school teachers with nonpartisan, historically grounded content on the origins, legal interpretation and civic implications of the Second Amendment.”
Outputs from the program will include:
- an in-person educator conference for teachers from across the country
- instructional video modules
- webinars with bipartisan scholarly dialogue
- free digital archive of historical legal sources
Although the government has not issued an announcement, the Department of Education’s American History and Civics Education Program’s website lists an exact dollar figure earmarked for the University of Wyoming in their 2025 award grantee list, part of the 85 total awards given out for the year.
The office describes the grant program as having significant influence from President Trump, stating:
Aligned with the Trump Administration’s focus on excellence and opportunity, the purpose of the AHC-Seminars program is to promote new and existing evidence-based strategies to encourage innovative American history, civics and government, and geography instruction.
The initiative stands in stark contrast to the Biden-Harris “Office of Gun Violence Prevention” which earmarked billions of dollars towards furthering gun control initiatives, as we documented here.
Hat tip to Jared Yanis at Guns and Gadgets for breaking this story.
