President Trump told attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday that he would like to arm teachers who love and want to protect their students.
According to the Daily Mail, Trump said, “When we declare our schools to be gun-free zones it just puts our students in far more danger.” His statement comes just over a week after Nikolas Cruz carried a rifle into a gun-free zone and opened fire, killing 17.
Trump said, “Well-trained, gun-adept teachers and coaches and people who work in those buildings” should be allowed to carry guns to quickly end such attacks in the future.
Trump pledged during the 2016 presidential campaign to get rid of gun-free school zones. More than once, he indicated that teachers should be armed to shoot back at attackers and defend children’s lives.
On February 21, Trump began a steady push for armed teachers as part of his response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School attack. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) described the effort as “absolutely abhorrent.” According to the Hill, Blumenthal also described arming teachers as “an anathema.”
But Trump assured the CPAC audience that his push to arm teachers is based on teachers’ love for their students; because they love them, they will also protect them. Trump said, “[Teachers] love their students! They don’t want their students to be killed and to be hurt.” He described teachers as “patriots” who “could become schools’ first line of defense against crazed attackers.”
During his CPAC speech, Trump again mentioned a focus on background checks and mental illness, but he made no mention of raising the minimum purchase age for long rifles.
He did take time to point out that Democrats “will take your Second Amendment” if given control of Congress.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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