President Trump denied he called for all teachers to be armed during a White House meeting with survivors and parents of children gunned down in school attacks and took aim at “Fake News” for twisting his words.
“I never said ‘give teachers guns’ like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC,” he posted on Twitter Thursday. “What I said was to look at the possibility of giving ‘concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience – only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions.”
The president said “highly trained” teachers would serve as an efficient way to deter “cowards” from shooting up schools.
“Far more assets at much less cost than guards. A ‘gun free’ school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!,” he concluded.
In another tweet minutes later, Trump laid out the positions he would take to keep people safe from gun violence.
“I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue – I hope!” he wrote.
Trump hosted the meeting at the White House on Wednesday with parents and students of schools where mass shootings have occurred — including Colorado’s Columbine High School, Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School and Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed by a former student with an AR-15-style rifle last week.
Discussing ways to ensure students’ safety from rampaging gunmen, the group discussed stricter background checks for gun buyers, more money for mental health treatment, banning assault rifles and even arming teachers.
Trump favored the idea of allowing school staff members to carry a concealed weapon and suggested arming about 20 percent of them.
“So let’s say you had 20 percent of your teaching force because that’s pretty much the number – and you said it – an attack has lasted, on average, about three minutes,” he told the gathering. “It takes five to eight minutes for responders, for the police, to come in. So the attack is over. If you had a teacher with – who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly.”
Building on his thought, Trump said those armed would have experience handling firearms.
“You’d have a lot of people that’d be armed. They’d be ready. They’re professionals. They may be Marines that left the Marines, left the Army, left the Air Force,” he said. “And they’re very adept at doing that. You’d have a lot of them, and they’d be spread evenly throughout the school.”