Politics

Trump Wants ‘To Put An End’ To Mass Shootings — Blames Obama And Past Presidents For Not Getting It ‘Done’

Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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President Donald Trump chided his predecessors for failing to enact meaningful school safety and gun policy reforms in a joint appearance with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Friday.

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“You’ve had people in my position. They would mention things, but not a lot of things got done, obviously,” Trump said in a response to what he specifically will do in the wake of a recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida. “We take it very seriously. We want to put an end to it.”

Trump has advocated for “hardening” schools in the wake of the shooting by arming certain teachers in schools.

“The teachers and the coaches and other people in the building — the dean, the assistant dean, the principal — they can — they love their people.  They want to protect these kids,” the president said in a speech at the conservative political action conference Friday, adding that only 10-20 percent of teachers would need to be armed under his proposed system.

The president also said “we really do have to strengthen up, really strengthen up background checks.  We have to do that.”

He has previously has discussed a Senate bill which would hold “federal agencies accountable if they fail to upload relevant records to the background check system through public reporting and prohibiting bonus pay for political appointees.”