US educators say no to 'arms race' in schools

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump has proposed arming "highly trained" teachers to deter school shootings, but the idea has drawn little support from those most directly concerned - teachers.

"Parents and educators overwhelmingly reject the idea of arming school staff," said Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association (NEA), the largest professional union in the United States.

"Bringing more guns into our schools does nothing to protect our students and educators from gun violence," said the head of the three-million-member NEA.

Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, another union, condemned what she called an "arms race" and efforts to "turn schools into militarised fortresses by arming teachers."

Trump suggested giving teachers guns at a meeting at the White House on Wednesday with survivors of last week's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 14 students and three teachers dead.

The president then doubled down on the proposal on Thursday, both on Twitter and at a subsequent White House meeting.

Besides the major US teachers' unions, the proposal also drew criticism from Shannon Watts, the head of one of the leading gun control groups, Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America.

"I'm honestly gobsmacked that the president used a forum with gun violence survivors to pimp the (National Rifle Association's) priority legislation and to suggest arming teachers," Watts said.

The NRA, the powerful gun lobby, has long argued for more armed security in US schools, and its leader Wayne LaPierre repeated the call in a speech on Thursday.

"Our banks, our airports, our NBA games, our NFL games, our office buildings, our movie stars, our politicians, they're all more protected than our children at school," LaPierre said.

He concluded his speech to a gathering of conservative leaders with the NRA catchphrase: "To stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun."

Nikolas Cruz, the 19-yearold former Stoneman Douglas student accused of carrying out the shooting, was armed with a semi-automatic AR-15style rifle.