Trump hosted governors from around the country at the White House Monday, during which he had a tense exchange with Washington Governor Jay Inslee.
The president made opening remarks then opened the floor to questions from the governors. Many of the questions and conversations revolved around the national conversation on school shootings. Trump has proposed arming up to 20 percent of the nation’s teachers. When Inslee described gun control measures he has implemented in his state and then directly questioned Trump’s proposal for arming teachers. Trump corrected the governor bluntly, saying he is proposing arming “a small portion” of teachers and condemning gun free school zones. Trump said:
Arming a small portion that are very gun adept. That truly know how to handle them. I do feel it’s very important that gun free Zones. You have a gun free zone, it’s like an invitation for the sick people to go there. I think there has to be some form of major retaliation if they are able to mentor of school and if that happens you are not going to have any problems because they won’t go into the school. It would just be a very small group of people that are very gun adept.
The governor responded, saying he has heard from teachers and law enforcement who do not want to arm teachers.
“I have listened to law enforcement who have said they don’t want to have to train teachers as law enforcement agencies. I think this is a circumstance where we need to listen to educators and they should not be foisted upon this responsibility of packing heat.”
Governor Jay Inslee ended his remarks saying “I suggest we need a little less tweeting, a little more listening and let’s just take that off the table and move forward.”
President Trump said “Thank you very much,” before calling on Texas governor Greg Abbott to explain why his state allows teachers to conceal carry.
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