Under pressure from Republicans and Democrats, the Biden administration last week opened the door to reverse a “nonsensical” interpretation that led to the elimination of federal funding for school hunting and archery programs across the U.S.

Congressmen from both sides of the aisle were up in arms over the decision by the Department of Education to strip the taxpayers’ money from hunter education and archery classes and programs in schools. The money has been earmarked for those purposes since the Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965.

What led to the latest attack on the Second Amendment?

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 passed easily in both the House and Senate before being signed into law in June 2022 by President Joe Biden. The new law followed mass shootings at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and a school in Uvalde, Texas.

Included in the law was an amendment to an ESEA subsection listing that prohibits federal funding from providing anyone with a dangerous weapon or to provide “training in the use of a dangerous weapon.”

Many schools that offer hunter ed and archery classes and programs abolished them from curriculums over the summer due to the federal guidance. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona defended his agency’s action.

Of course, we know why. GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said it best, loud and clear as 66 House Republicans supported her condemnation the last week of August.

“This is the most recent example of a series of Far Left pushes by the Biden Administration and Education Secretary Cardona in the name of their political agenda. Despite long-standing bipartisan congressional support, the Department of Education has decided to eliminate the opportunity for millions of American students to exercise their Second Amendment right by safely learning to use firearms and participate in recreational shooting sports,” Stefanik recently told Fox News Digital.

Among the first to speak out on the issue were Sems. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who sent a strongly worded letter to Cardona. They emphasized their concern about the federal agency misinterpreting the provision it claims allows withholding education funds for programs training school resource officers, not hunting and archery classes.

They wrote: “We were alarmed to learn recently that the Department of Education has misinterpreted the BSCA to require the defunding of certain longstanding educational and enrichment classes – specifically, archery and hunter education classes — for thousands of children, who rely on these programs to develop life skills, learn firearm safety and build self-esteem to develop life skills, learn firearm safety and build self-esteem.”

On Sept. 5, two followup letters were sent, the first to Cardona signed by nine Republicans and nine Democrats while the second went to Senate Appropriations Committee leadership signed by six Republicans and 11 Democrats.

The message hit home.

The Department of Education acknowledged it had defunded school sportsmen activities that traditionally receive federal money and said those programs are “enrichment opportunities.” The federal agency also said it would work with lawmakers to develop legislative language resolving the issue.

“The Department of Education continues to implement the law as developed byCongress,” an Education Department spokesman told Fox News Digital. “The Department recognizes the limits this language may place on certain enrichment opportunities with ESEA funding.

“We are happy to provide technical assistance on legislative language to address this issue and restore allowability of ESEA funding for valuable enrichment opportunities for students, such as archery and hunter safety programs.”

How popular and widespread are the classes and programs?

The National Archery in the Schools Program has 1.3 million students from nearly 9,000 schools (including North Lewis Elementary School in New Iberia) in 49 states enrolled in archery programs.

NASP president Tommy Floyd said a few months ago, “It’s a negative for children. As a former educator for 30-plus years, I was always trying to find a way to engage students. In many communities, it’s a shooting sport, and the skills from shooting sports, that help young people grow to be responsible adults. They also benefit from relationships with role models.”

In the Sportsman’s Paradise, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission approved a resolution Sept. 7 to request Louisiana’s Congressional Delegation to compel the Department of Education to reverse its decision to restrict federal funding to schools implementing hunter education and Archery in Louisiana Schools due to the language in the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Community Act.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.