Trump endorses guns for teachers to stop shootings
US President Donald Trump has proposed arming teachers and sports coaches, and using armed former military personnel to provide school security, in the wake of last week’s deadly school shooting in Florida.
Mr Trump met with six students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed on February 14 by a gunman with an AR15 semi-automatic assault rifle in the second-deadliest shooting at a US public school.
Mr Trump sat in the middle of a semi-circle in the White House State Dining Room, listening intently as survivors and parents wept and delivered emotional appeals for change.
“We’re going to do something about this horrible situation that’s going on. We’re all going to figure it out together,” he said. “We’re going to be very strong on background checks, we’re doing very strong background checks, very strong emphasis on the mental health.
“If you had a teacher … who was adept at firearms, it could very well end the attack very quickly,” said Mr Trump, who acknowledged the idea would be controversial.
“They’d go for special training and they would be there and you would no longer have a gun-free zone.”
What did the students say?
Samuel Zeif, 18, said his best friend was among those killed last week. He sobbed after he described texting his family members during the shooting.
“I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war, an AR,” he said.
“Let’s never let this happen again please, please. And I know he’s with me, cheering me on to be strong, but it’s hard.”
Parkland student Justin Gruber said: “Nineteen years ago, the first school shooting Columbine, at Columbine High School happened. I was born into a world where I never got to experience safety and peace.
“There needs to be significant change in this country because this has to never happen again and people should be able to feel that when they go to school they can be safe.”
What did parents have to say?
Andrew Pollack lost a child in the Parkland shooting. He said action to prevent school massacres was decades overdue.
“It doesn’t make sense. Fix it. It should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it. “And I’m pissed because my daughter I’m not going to see again. She’s in North Lauderdale, King David cemetery, that’s where I go to see my kid now. And it stops. We all work together,” he shouted.
Trump backlash as photo captures notes
Mr Trump copped criticism online after a photo captured notes of what he planned to say.
The handwritten lines, on a White House notepad, listed five talking points. The picture went viral, with his last point, “I hear you”, drawing particular attention. Questions were quickly being raised over why he needed to remind himself to listen at a “listening session”.