Trump: 'Gun free' schools are magnets for 'bad people'

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A "gun free" school is nothing but a "magnet" for criminals, US President Donald Trump said Thursday, a day after proposing to train and arm some teachers to keep US schools safe.

"Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!" Trump tweeted.

At a White House meeting late Wednesday with survivors of a shooting rampage at a Florida high school that killed 17 people, Trump suggested arming a select group of teachers to deter mass shootings.

"I never said 'give teachers guns'... 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 to ...immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this. Far more assets at much less cost than guards. A 'gun free' school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!"

US President Donald Trump's Twitter screenshot. /@realDonaldTrump

At the Wednesday meeting, billed as a "listening session," Trump promised "very strong" background checks on gun owners.

He endorsed a National Rifle Association (NRA) proposal to arm teachers as a way of preventing massacres like last week's mass shooting at a Florida high school.

Trump also had an emotional hour-long White House meeting with students who survived the Florida shooting and a parent whose child did not.

Hundreds of students joined scattered protests across the country on Wednesday, including in Washington, Chicago and Pittsburgh.

What did Trump say?

The Republican president, who has championed gun rights and was endorsed by the NRA during the 2016 campaign, said he would move quickly to tighten background checks for gun buyers and would consider raising the age for buying certain types of guns.

Trump spoke at length about how armed teachers and security guards could frighten off potential school shooters and prevent student deaths. "If you had a teacher... who was adept at firearms, it could very well end the attack very quickly," he said.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School parent Andrew Pollack discusses the death of his daughter Meadow in the Parkland school shooting with President Donald Trump in the White House, Feb. 21, 2018. /VCG Photo

The attack in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students and educators were slain on Feb. 14 by a gunman with an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle in the second-deadliest shooting at a US public school, has revived the long-running US debate over gun rights.

The US Constitution protects the right of Americans to bear arms, a right fiercely defended by Republicans. But Trump has been under pressure to act.

Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow Pollack, 18, was killed, shouted: "It should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it. And I'm pissed－because my daughter－I'm not going to see again."

US President Donald Trump holds his notes while hosting a listening session with survivors of mass shootings, their parents and teachers in the State Dining Room in the White House, Feb. 21, 2018. /VCG Photo

Trump sat in the middle of a semi-circle in the White House State Dining Room. Photographers captured images of his handwritten note card with questions like "What would you most want me to know about your experience?" and "I hear you."

Student protests

Students across the United States walked out of classes in sympathy protests ahead of Trump’s meeting, including hundreds of teens who gathered at the White House.

"I came out here because I don't feel safe in my school," said Allyson Zadravec, 15, of Northwood High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. "I want to make sure that everyone who can do something about it hears that I don’t feel safe in my school.”

In the Florida state capital, Tallahassee, students demanded that lawmakers restrict sales of assault rifles. Some wore T-shirts and carried signs reading: "We call BS," one of the slogans of the movement started by the survivors.

Investigators said the assault was carried out by 19-year-old former Stoneman student Nikolas Cruz, who purchased an AR-15 nearly a year ago. Police charged Cruz, who had been kicked out of the school because of disciplinary problems, with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

Lawmakers in Tallahassee said they would consider raising the age limit to 21, the same standard for handguns and alcohol, although the state Senate on Wednesday opted not to take up a gun control measure.

US President Donald Trump takes part in a listening session on gun violence with teachers and students in the State Dining Room of the White House, Feb. 21, 2018. /VCG Photo

Trump echoed, advocating to raise the age limit from 18 to 21, without further details on the variation between certain types of guns. He would also pursue more comprehensive background checks which emphasize mental health and a ban on the sale of bump stocks.

"There's no... middle ground of having that institution where you had trained people that could handle it and do something about it and find out how sick he really is," Trump said.

‘Bump stocks’ ban

Trump on Tuesday directed the Justice Department to work on a regulation that would effectively ban "bump stocks," an accessory that enables a rifle to shoot hundreds of rounds a minute.

Last October, a retired real estate investor and high-stakes gambler used multiple assault rifles equipped with bump stocks to kill 58 people at a Las Vegas outdoor concert, the deadliest attack by a single gunman in US history. Bump stocks have not played a prominent role in other recent US mass shootings.

The NRA opposes an outright ban on bump stocks but has said it would be open to restrictions on the devices. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged Trump to back legislation, instead of a regulation, on bump stocks.

(With input from news agencies)

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Source(s): Reuters