Trump again rips Fla. officers
‘I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon,’ he says
WASHINGTON – While urging governors to work with him on new school safety measures, President Donald Trump again attacked officers Monday for not entering a Florida high school building and somehow engaging a gunman who killed 17 people with a military-style rifle.
“I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon, and I think most of the people in this room would have done that, too,” Trump told a group of state governors gathered at the White House for talks on multiple issues.
Trump singled out a sheriff ’s deputy assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and described the lack of action by him and others during the Feb. 14 shooting as “frankly disgusting.” But he also said that “you don’t know” how anyone
would react until they’re tested.
Noting that local law enforcement officials had received warnings about the shooter’s behavior, Trump said: “The only worse job is they didn’t nab this guy earlier.”
Broward County Sheriff ’s Deputy Scot Peterson, the target of the criticism, said his actions have been misreported.
According to a statement issued by his lawyer, Peterson thought the shots were coming from outside any school building, and he followed training that says “in the event of outdoor gunfire, one is to seek cover and assess the situation” and communicate with other law enforcement officers.
“Allegations that Mr. Peterson was a coward and that his performance, under the circumstances, failed to meet the standards of police officers are patently untrue,” the statement said.
While berating local law enforcement, Trump also outlined a gun-control and school-safety program that includes expanding background checks, increasing the age limit for purchase of semiautomatic weapons, eliminating “bump stocks” and other devices that essentially turn semiautomatic weapons into automatic ones, emphasizing mental health issues, and arming “highly trained” teachers and school officials.
“We have to take steps to harden our schools so that they’re less vulnerable to attack,” Trump said.
Yet it’s unclear what, if anything, Congress will do; Republican congressional leaders have not said how they plan to address the gun issue, given an array of opinions on the subject.
Some of these ideas have drawn opposition, including from governors who questioned the proposal to give teachers guns.
“I just suggest we need a little less tweeting here,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, said during a discussion about arming teachers.
Throughout the day, White House officials and governors caucused on a number of items on which they can work together.
In addition to gun control, topics included health care, agriculture policy, workforce development and infrastructure.
Trump is meeting with a variety of people on the gun issue. He told governors that over the weekend he had lunch with two prominent National Rifle Association officials, Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox; the NRA opposes the proposed age increase, as well as other items they say infringe on Second Amendment gun rights.
While telling the governors, “Don’t worry about the NRA, they’re on our side,” Trump said that “sometimes we’re going to have to be very tough, and we’re going to have to fight them.”
As for background checks, Trump said he wants to make it harder for mentally ill people to be able to buy guns.