U.S. education secretary nominee says states should determine school gun policies

Betsy DeVos, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's education secretary nominee, has said it should be up to the states to decide whether guns are allowed in schools.

She cited grizzly bear protection as part of her answer, reports the CNN.

DeVos said she would support Trump if he moved to ban gun-free schools zones, a position he advocated during the election campaign.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who represents Sandy Hook, the site of the 2012 school shooting, asked DeVos if she believes guns have "any place in and around schools."

To this, she replied, "I think that is best left to locales and states to decide."

After Murphy pressed DeVos about why she can't say definitively whether they belong, DeVos brought up a story Senator Mike Enzi told earlier about a school in Wyoming that has fences around it to protect against grizzly bears.

"I will refer back to Sen. Enzi and the school he is talking about in Wyoming. I think probably there, I would imagine there is probably a gun in a school to protect from potential grizzlies," she said.

"If the question is around gun violence and the results of that, please know that my heart bleeds and is broken for those families that have lost any individual due to gun violence," she said.

Murphy, a gun control advocate, later tweeted: "Tonight #BetsyDeVos would not oppose putting guns in our schools. I was shaken to the core by her answer. So should every American parent.