GUNS FOR TEACHERS, GUARDS PUSHED AS ARMED OFFICER SCORED FOR INACTION

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump insisted that assault rifles should be kept out of the hands of anyone under 21 as he pushed for arming security guards and teachers in US schools.

Trump’s proposal seemed to contradict the position of the influential National Rifle Association (NRA) as emerged that an armed deputy was on campus during the deadly Florida rampage but failed to act.

No words from NRA

“There’s nothing more important than protecting our children,” Trump said, adding that he’d spoken with many members of Congress and NRA officials and insisting they would go along with his plans in the wake of last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead.

But there were no words of support from the NRA for his minimum-age proposal and outright opposition from teachers and school security guards for the idea of arming schools.

“The NRA will back it and so will Congress,” Trump contended as he called for raising the legal age of purchase for “all” guns from 18 to 21.

A spokesperson later said Trump was speaking specifically about semiautomatic weapons, but the NRA called such a restriction an infringement on gun owners’ rights.

Listening to ideas

Trump has spent the past two days listening to ideas about how to stem gun violence at schools after last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

In Florida, meanwhile, funerals continued. And a sheriff’s deputy who had been on duty at the school but never went inside to confront the shooter resigned after being suspended without pay.

Armed deputy present

The Broward County sheriff said Thursday that an armed deputy was in fact present during the Valentine’s Day rampage, but did not act to stop it.

Sheriff Scott Israel said Scott Peterson, an armed school resource deputy, was at the high school but took up a position outside and “never went in” during the shooting.

He should have “went in, addressed the killer, killed the killer,” Israel said. Peterson resigned after being suspended without pay.

—AP HEARTWRENCHING Hui Wang cries after the memorial service for her 15-year-old son Peter whowas killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.