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Trump suggests arming teachers as he meets school shooting survivors
WASHINGTON, Feb 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump suggested
arming teachers to deter future mass shootings as he held an emotional
meeting Wednesday at the White House with survivors of the gun rampage that
left 17 people dead at a Florida high school.
Trump also promised “very strong” background checks on gun owners during
the poignant “listening session,” in which he heard first-hand accounts from
bereaved parents and friends, and schoolchildren who narrowly escaped with
their own lives.
“A gun-free zone, to a maniac — because they are all cowards — a gun-free
zone is ‘Let’s go in and let’s attack,” Trump said.
“If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, they could very well end
the attack very quickly,” Trump said, suggesting that 20 percent of a
school’s teachers could be trained to carry concealed weapons.
“This would only be obviously for people who are very adept at handling a
gun,” Trump added.
The televised White House meeting came as students staged street protests
across the country to demand stricter gun laws following the murder of 14
teens and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland,
Florida.
Holding signs reading “Never Again” and “Be The Adults, Do Something,”
teenaged survivors of last Wednesday’s shooting rallied outside the Florida
state Capitol in Tallahassee.
“No longer can I walk the halls I walked millions of times before without
fear and sadness,” Stoneman Douglas student Florence Yared told a crowd that
included thousands of supporters.
– ‘My daughter has no voice’ –
“No longer can I walk the halls without imagining bloodstains and dead
bodies,” the 17-year-old junior said. “All because of the damage that a
single AR-15 rifle caused.”
The White House meeting was attended by Stoneman Douglas students, their
parents and also the parents of victims of the Columbine, Sandy Hook and
other shootings.
Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow was among the Stoneman
Douglas victims, told Trump it was far too easy for people such as the 19-
year-old shooter gunman Nikolas Cruz to acquire weapons.
“I’m here because my daughter has no voice. She was murdered last week and
she was taken from us, shot nine times,” he said. “We as a country failed our
children. This shouldn’t happen.
“We protect airports. We protect concerts, stadiums, embassies,” Pollack
said, his voice seething with rage. “I can’t get on a plane with a bottle of
water, but we leave some animal to walk into a school.”
Justin Gruber, a 15-year-old Stoneman Douglas student, said “there needs to
be significant change in this country because this has to never happen again.
“People should be able to feel that when they go to school they can be
safe,” Gruber said.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0833 hrs
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Samuel Zeif, who lost a close friend at Stoneman Douglas last Wednesday,
said it was important to “be strong for the fallen who don’t have a voice to
speak anymore.”
“Let’s never let this happen again. Please,” he told the president, later
adding: “I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of
war.”
Urgent calls for action following the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, which left
20 children and six teachers dead, had failed to break the national deadlock
on gun control.
But students have vowed to make the Parkland tragedy a turning point, with
youths inspired on social media by the activism of their peers staging
walkouts from high schools in Florida and elsewhere on Wednesday.
– ‘NRA has got to go’ –
Hundreds of students descended on city hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and
marched in other cities, including Chicago, the Midwestern metropolis racked
by gun violence.
In Washington, hundreds more gathered outside the White House chanting
slogans against the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful gun lobby,
and demanding action from Trump.
“Hey hey, ho ho, the NRA has got to go,” they chanted.
Students are planning a march on Washington on March 24, with sister
rallies planned across the country.
Trump — who received strong backing from the NRA during his White House
run — has shown a new-found willingness to take at least some steps on gun
control following the Parkland shooting.
The president threw his support Tuesday behind moves to ban “bump stocks” –
– an accessory that allows a semi-automatic rifle to be fired nearly as fast
as an automatic weapon.
But his suggestion of arming teachers drew immediate scorn from the founder
of the advocacy group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
“I’m honestly gobsmacked that the President just used a forum with gun
violence survivors to pimp the @NRA’s priority legislation and to suggest
arming teachers,” tweeted Shannon Watts.
The idea of countering school shootings with additional weapons is already
being put in place in Broward County, where Stoneman Douglas is located.
Sheriff Scott Israel announced Tuesday that “deputies who are qualified and
trained will be carrying rifles on school grounds from this point forward.”
The US Congress has long been deadlocked on the gun debate, accomplishing
nothing despite a spate of mass shootings and polls showing that Americans
support stricter gun laws by a two-to-one margin.
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