Drawing criticism
Trump doesn’t set age for guns, defers on arming teachers
President Donald Trump said Monday that he is “watching court cases and rulings” before taking action on raising age limits for purchasing some firearms, arguing that there is “not much political support (to put it mildly).”
Trump’s tweet came after his White House put out a plan to combat school shootings that doesn’t increase the minimum age for purchasing assault weapons to 21 — an idea Trump publicly favoured just last month — and leaves the question of arming teachers to states and local communities.
Instead, a new federal commission on school safety will examine the age issue as part of a package the White House announced Sunday in response to the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., last month that left 17 dead.
At a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump criticized policy commissions while speaking about the opioid problem, saying, “We can’t just keep setting up blue-ribbon committees.”
On Twitter on Monday, Trump described the school shooting effort as a “very strong improvement” and said, “Armed guards OK, deterrent!” On age limits, he said: “watching court cases and rulings before acting. States are making this decision. Things are moving rapidly on this, but not much political support (to put it mildly).”
The president quickly drew Democratic criticism over age limits. Sen. Richard Blumenthal,
D-conn., tweeted that Trump “couldn’t even summon the political courage to propose raising the age limit on firearm purchases — despite repeated promises to support such a step at a meeting with lawmakers.”
For now, the White House is backing a modest background check bill and a school safety measure, which both are expected to have widespread bipartisan support — even though some Republicans object and many Democrats say they are insufficient.
Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who wrote the school safety bill, tweeted he was “grateful” for the White House backing, calling the measure “the best first step we can take” to make students safer.
The president on Monday also repeated his criticism of keeping guns out of schools, tweeting: “If schools are mandated to be gun free zones, violence and danger are given an open invitation to enter. Almost all school shootings are in gun free zones. Cowards will only go where there is no deterrent!”
Education Secretary Betsy Devos, who on Sunday called the proposal “meaningful actions, steps that can be taken right away to help protect students,” said Monday that the plan was “the first step in a more lengthy process.”
No deadline was set for the commission’s recommendations, but officials expected them within a year.
Pressed repeatedly Monday on
NBC about why the White House backed off Trump’s support for increasing the minimum age for purchasing assault-style weapons, Devos said that “everything is on the table,” stressing that the commission will study a wide range of issues.
The administration also pledged to help states pay for firearms training for teachers and reiterated its call to improve the background check and mental health systems.
Devos declined to say how many teachers should be armed.
“This is an issue that is best decided by local communities and by states,” Devos said on NBC. “It’s not going to be appropriate in every location, but it is going to be appropriate in some places.”