A law rolling out in Texas that calls for public schools to hand out DNA and fingerprint identification kits for students – in an effort to help parents identify their children in the event of an emergency – is causing a wave of backlash from those calling for gun reform.
Public schools in the state are beginning the distribution this week after the state legislature passed a spring 2021 law that would require the Texas Education Agency “to provide identification kits to school districts and open-enrollment charter schools for distribution to the parent or legal custodian of certain students”. The “inkless, in-home fingerprint and DNA identification kits” are for any “parent or legal custodian” who may want to “submit the kit to federal, state, tribal, or local law enforcement to help locate and return a missing or trafficked child.”
