Leaders of the House Freedom Caucus said Friday they support teachers’ ability to carry concealed firearms in schools, but are against other gun control proposals that President Trump has proposed in the wake of the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., last week.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday that he supports allowing teachers to conceal carry firearms with the “proper training,” and cited church services back in his district, where he claims parishioners are carrying at every service.
“Every church that I know of has that same kind of policy,” Jordan said. “There are parishioners each Sunday who’ve had the training — maybe they’re retired law enforcement, retired military … they have a policy in place.”
“They have a certain people in place who are carrying a concealed firearm to protect the folks who are at the service,” Jordan said. “I think that makes sense for schools too.”
Trump has also supported raising the age for legal firearms purchases, and beefing up federal background checks. But Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who chairs the caucus, said those ideas are not a “good starting point” for talks.
“All of us are in the information gathering mode, but I can tell you that when you start to fundamentally look at removing our constitutional protected liberties, that’s not a good starting place to go.” Meadows said. “To suggest more government is the answer is not a good starting point.”
The comments came moments after Trump’s speech to CPAC, where he called for legislation to tighten background checks and talked about teachers carrying concealed firearms in schools, among other ideas. He has also called openly for the minimum age to be raised from 18 to 21.
Earlier Friday, Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced that the state will increase the age to 21 after calls from Trump and support by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in the wake of the shooting.
“We will require all individuals purchasing firearms to be 21 or older,” Scott said during a press conference Friday morning. “We will require all individuals purchasing firearms to be 21 or older. There will be exceptions for active duty and reserve military and spouses, National Guard members, and law enforcement.”
