U.S. President Donald Trump on
Thursday pushed his call to arm teachers following last week's school
massacre in Florida, saying it would be limited to those with military
or special training but "would solve the problem instantly."
His idea has already drawn a strongly
divided reaction in a country where there are fierce divisions on how to
curb mass shootings and everyday gun violence.
Trump, a Republican who has backed gun
rights, raised the idea of arming teachers during an emotional,
hour-long discussion on Wednesday with students who survived the attack
on a Florida high school and a parent whose child did not.
"Highly trained, gun adept,
teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police
arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!" Trump wrote in a series of posts on Twitter
early on Thursday.
Seventeen students and staff members
were killed in the Feb. 14 attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Florida, the second-deadliest shooting at a U.S.
public school.
A 19-year-old former student at the
school, Nikolas Cruz, has been charged with carrying out the shooting.
Authorities say he was armed with a semiautomatic AR-15 assault-style
rifle.
Trump said on Wednesday he would
tighten background checks for gun buyers and consider lifting the age
limit to buy some kinds of guns.
At Wednesday's meeting, Trump said,
"If you had a teacher ... who was adept at firearms, they could very
well end the attack very quickly."
Reuters
0 comments:
Post a Comment