President Trump touted his proposal for “gun-adept” teachers in the nation’s public schools to carry firearms Friday and said he believes an armed teacher at the Parkland, Fla., high school would have “shot the hell” out of the gunman in last week’s shooting.
“You would have a lot, and you would tell people they’re inside. And the beauty is it’s concealed. Nobody would ever see it unless they needed it. It is concealed,” Trump told attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. “So this crazy man who walked in wouldn’t even know who it is that has it. That’s good. That’s not bad, that’s good. And the teacher would’ve shot the hell out of him before he knew what happened.”
Trump has raised the possibility of arming a percentage of teachers at public schools who have undergone firearm training following last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. He has also called for strengthening background checks.
Seventeen people were killed and at least a dozen were injured in the shooting.
The president’s proposal to arm teachers has received some pushback, but Trump said Friday he believes teachers would be more effective at protecting students than an armed guard they don’t know.
“These teachers love their students, and these teachers are talented with weaponry and with guns. They feel safe,” Trump said. “And I’d rather have somebody that loves their students and wants to protect their students then somebody standing outside that doesn’t know anybody and doesn’t know the students, and frankly, for whatever reason, decided not to go in, even though he heard lots of shots being fired inside.”
Trump was referencing Broward County sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson, who was assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Police said Thursday that Peterson was at the high school when Cruz opened fire last week. Armed and in uniform, Peterson responded to the shooting, but never entered the school.
“He didn’t turn out to be too good, I will tell you that,” Trump said of Peterson on Friday. “He turned out to not be good. He was not a credit to law enforcement, that I can tell you.”
