Trump endorses guns for teachers to stop shootings

US President Donald Trump has said arming teachers could prevent school shootings like that which left 17 people dead last week in Florida. A staff member with a gun could end an attack “very quickly”, he said. Mr Trump floated the proposal – long-championed by the powerful NRA gun lobby – as emotional survivors of the 14 February massacre urged him to take measures to stop similar attacks. The US leader called for improved background checks on gun buyers. “It’s not going to be talk like it’s been in the past,” he said. What do students and parents want? President Trump listened to pleas for gun reform on Wednesday from about 40 students, teachers and families in the executive mansion’s state dining room. Hundreds of teenagers from the Washington DC suburbs rallied outside at the time – some voicing support for arming teachers. Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow died in last week’s attack – the second-deadliest shooting at a US public school – said: “We, as a country, failed our children.” “I’m pissed!” he added. Mark Barden – whose son Daniel was killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut – said more guns was not the answer. “Schoolteachers have more than enough responsibilities right now, than to have to have the awesome responsibility of lethal force to take a life,” he said. What is Trump’s solution? At his White House event, Mr Trump promised to look “very strongly” at calls for educators to be armed with guns – a position long held by the National Rifle Association (NRA). “If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms,” he said, “they could very well end the attack very quickly.” “Where a teacher would have a concealed gun on them,” he said, while acknowledging the plan was controversial, “they would go for special training and they would be there, and you would no longer have a gun-free zone. He also linked shooting incidents to mental health issues, promising: “We’ll be very strong on background checks, very strong emphasis on the mental health of somebody.” Throughout his presidential campaign he endorsed the idea of an armed citizenry as a defence against attacks. But during the 2016 election campaign, he denied that he was in favour of guns in classrooms. Read more at BBC.com]]>