Give teachers a pay rise to carry guns, says Trump

DOnALD Trump faced a backlash from his own party last night after calling for teachers to be armed in an attempt to stop future school massacres.

The US President suggested teachers should be paid extra to carry concealed weapons – even as Republicans made clear they opposed the idea.

Florida’s Republican senator Marco Rubio said: ‘The notion that my kids are going to school with teachers that are armed with a weapon is not something that… I’m comfortable with.’

The President also called for the minimum age for buying all guns to be raised to 21. nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland using a semi- automatic assault rifle, was 19 years old.

Mr Trump’s comments came after he met survivors and victims’ families of school shootings including the Florida attack on Wednesday, relying on a cue card for suggestions on what to say to them, such as, ‘I hear you.’ Mr Trump, who had backed gun control before becoming a Republican candidate, told them: ‘All I can say is that we’re fighting hard for you, and we will not stop.’

Hours later, he wrote on Twitter: ‘Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the prob- lem instantly, before police arrive.’ Describing gun-free schools as a ‘magnet for bad people’, he said he envisioned 20 per cent of teachers having concealed weapons and said they would have ‘military or special training experience’.

Mr Trump added: ‘And what I’d recommend doing is the people that do carry, we give them a bonus. If a potential “sicko shooter” knows that a school has a large number of very weaponstalented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will nEVER attack that school.

‘Cowards won’t go there… problem solved. Must be offensive, defence alone won’t work!’ Advocates of arming teachers say school gunmen often have many minutes to shoot at will before police arrive at the scene. But critics point out that armed teachers would hardly act as a deterrent because most shooters enter schools prepared to die.

Lily Eskelsen Garcia, of the national Education Association, the US’s largest professional union, said: ‘Bringing more guns into our schools does nothing to protect our students and educators from gun violence.’

Mr Trump defended the national Rifle Association (nRA), which donated to his election campaign. The lobby group – which represents gun manufacturers and owners – rejected his call for raising age limits, saying it would punish ‘law-abiding citizens for the evil acts of criminals’.

nRA chief Wayne LaPierre yesterday accused Democrats and the media of ‘exploiting’ the Florida tragedy ‘for political gain’.

At a conservative convention, he advocated armed security guards at schools, saying: ‘Every day young children are being dropped off at schools that are virtual wideopen soft targets for anyone bent on mass murder.’