DON TAKES A SHOT AT GUNS
Safety plan puts vets and ex-cops at schools
President Trump on Sunday unveiled a school-safety plan that seeks to steer military vets and retired cops into the education system — and provide firearms training for “specially qualified” school personnel.
Trump also called on Congress to pass pending legislation to strengthen instant federal background checks on gun buyers and earmark $50 million annually for technology and other programs to prevent school violence.
Other proposals include having every state follow Florida’s lead in allowing judges to issue “extreme risk protection orders” so cops can seize guns and ammunition from people who pose a threat to themselves or others.
That measure was included in a gun-control law signed Friday by Florida Gov. Rick Scott in the wake of the Feb. 14 shooting spree that killed 14 students and three staffers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland.
“Every child deserves to grow up in a safe community surrounded by a loving family and to have a future filled with opportunity and with hope,” Trump said in a prepared statement.
The president’s plan — which doesn’t include raising the minimum age for buying firearms to 21, which he repeatedly proposed last month — was outlined during an evening conference call between reporters and administration officials.
Andrew Bremberg, director of Trump’s Domestic Policy Council, said the plan came together after multiple listening sessions the president held, including the emotional Feb. 21 event with survivors, teachers and parents of slain students.
Also taking part in the conference call was Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, whom Trump tapped to lead a commission to consider additional actions, including possibly raising the federal minimum age for buying rifles from 18 to 21, the same as for purchasing pistols.
DeVos called Trump’s proposals “a pragmatic plan to dramatically increase school safety and to take steps to do so right away.”
On Wednesday, DeVos visited Mar-
jory Stoneman Douglas HS, but cut a news conference afterward short amid questions about arming school workers.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called Trump’s proposal “tiny baby steps designed not to upset the NRA when gun violence is epidemic,” and gun-control activists blasted the idea as inadequate because it does not raise the age limit.
Kris Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, also panned the plan.
“Today’s announcement was woefully inadequate and showed a profound lack of leadership that is crucial at this time,” she said.
Jaclyn Corin, a survivor of the Parkland shooting, said Trump’s focus on mental health and school safety is just addressing two-thirds of the problem.
“Gun control is really what we need to focus on, especially universal background checks,” she told CNN.
Trump’s plan also calls for a review of federal educational- and medical-privacy laws with an eye toward increased coordination between school officials, healthcare workers and law-enforcement agencies.
“We really need to focus on prevention and identifying risk early on, and that starts with addressing social and emotional well-being and increasing access and consistency and transparency to mental-health services,” DeVos said Sunday.
Florida’s new gun-control law was immediately challenged by the National Rifle Association, which filed suit Friday over a provision that raises the minimum age to buy rifles to 21.
The group said that move “eviscerates” the constitutional rights of young adults under the Second and 14th amendments, which guarantee the right to bear arms and due process, respectively.
A senior White House official said Trump’s plan for “extreme risk protection orders” would ensure due process in the courts.