President Donald Trump spoke strongly against gun free zones in schools Thursday and continued to advocate for arming teachers in classrooms in the wake of the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
“We have to harden our schools, not soften them up,” Trump declared, adding that gun free zones are like “going in for the ice cream” for potential school shooters. The President continued “I want my schools protected just like I want my banks protected,” explaining “If you harden the sites you’re not going to have this problem… When you say this school is gun free… That’s what they want to hear.”
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He added “You come into our schools. You’re going to be dead. It’s going to be fast.”
Trump has appeared to endorse arming teachers in the wake of the Parkland massacre repeatedly in person and on twitter. On Wednesday, he told a listening session of families affected by school shootings that “if the coach had a firearm in his locker when he ran at this guy. That coach was very brave. Saved a lot of lives are suspect. If he had a firearm, he wouldn’t of had to run. He would have shot and that would’ve been the end of it,” Trump said of deceased Stoneman Douglas High School football coach Aaron Feis.
Trump also tweeted repeatedly about the issue Thursday.
I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. 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
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. 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
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
….History shows that a school shooting lasts, on average, 3 minutes. It takes police & first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to site of crime. Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
….If a potential “sicko shooter” knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won’t go there…problem solved. Must be offensive, defense alone won’t work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018