White House to help arm school staff

President Donald Trump's administration will step up aid to states that want to arm school employees under a plan to increase campus safety after the killing of 17 people in Florida, officials have said.

The controversial idea to put weapons in schools, which has drawn little support from educators, is part of a "pragmatic plan to dramatically increase school safety and to take steps to do so right away," Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in a conference call with reporters.

"We are committed to working quickly because there's no time to waste," said DeVos, who will chair a federal commission on school safety. Among other measures, the Trump administration is urging states to pass temporary "risk protection orders," as Florida recently did, with technical assistance coming from Washington, said Andrew Bremberg, a presidential assistant who heads the Domestic Policy Council.

These court-issued orders allow for law enforcement officers to remove guns from people who pose a demonstrated threat, "to temporarily prevent such individuals from purchasing new firearms, all while still protecting due process rights," he said.

The moves come during a national gun control debate revived by survivors of last month's massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 14 students and three staff were gunned down by a man with a semi-automatic rifle.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, on Twitter dismissed the administration's measures as "baby steps designed not to upset @NRA," the powerful National Rifle Association gun lobby. "The administration will be working with states to provide rigorous firearms training to specifically qualified volunteer school personnel," Bremberg said.