President Donald Trump was criticized Thursday for remarks about the proposal to arm teachers in response to school shootings. (Photo: Johnny Louis/Getty Images)
Sparking Swift Backlash, Trump Doubles Down on Proposal to Arm 'Highly Trained Teachers'
"I never said 'give teachers guns' like was stated on Fake News," Trump tweeted, adding that U.S. should give firearms to "only the best" educators
Sparking swift backlash Thursday morning, President Donald Trump attacked the news media for reporting on his comments Wednesday about the possibility of instituting "concealed carry for teachers" in an effort to deter school shootings, then doubled down on the proposal, tweeting that firearms should be given to "highly trained" and "only the best" teachers, which he claimed "would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive."
\u201cI never said \u201cgive teachers guns\u201d like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving \u201cconcealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience - only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519302388
\u201c....immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this. Far more assets at much less cost than guards. A \u201cgun free\u201d school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519303208
\u201c....History shows that a school shooting lasts, on average, 3 minutes. It takes police & first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to site of crime. Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519304049
\u201c....If a potential \u201csicko shooter\u201d knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won\u2019t go there...problem solved. Must be offensive, defense alone won\u2019t work!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519304718
During a listening session at the White House on Wednesday--part of the national discussion about gun violence that's come after 17 people were killed last week in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida--the president noted a proposal popular among gun advocates: "A teacher would have a concealed gun on them," and "they'd go for special training," Trump explained, so if a school shooting occurred, a teacher "who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly." He added, "We're going to be looking at [the proposal] very strongly... I think a lot of people are going to like it."
\u201cTrump\u2019s specific phrases yesterday:\n- \u201cpeople that are very adept at handling a gun\u201d\n- \u201cconcealed carry for teachers and for people of talent - of that type of talent\u201d\u201d— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1519303851
Several people took to social media on Thursday to call out Trump for the blatant dishonesty in his follow-up tweets:
\u201cTrump just tweeted that the Fake News media lied about him saying that we should give teachers guns, while simultaneously tweeting that we should give teachers guns. Is this a joke?\u201d— Eugene Gu, MD (@Eugene Gu, MD) 1519303024
On Wednesday, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) passed a resolution that condemned gun violence as well as the proposal to arm teachers.
"I am sickened by those doing the bidding of the gun lobby, and those like President Trump and [Education Secretary] Betsy DeVos who want an arms race and to turn schools into militarized fortresses by arming teachers," said AFT President Randi Weingarten. "Anyone who wants guns in schools has no understanding of what goes on inside them--or worse, doesn't care."
In response to Trump's "concealed carry for teachers" comments and his follow-up tweets, critics also expressed alarm at the proposal to give firearms to educators:
\u201cFormer Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student @ShanaMRosenthal responds to Trump's call to arm teachers: "I don't believe we should be arming our teachers\u2026 it's sad that it would even have to come to that point, and we should really focus on the main issues" #DNlive\u201d— Democracy Now! (@Democracy Now!) 1519306694
\u201cOur @Adamstoon1 @EveningStandard takes a look at Trump\u2019s plan to arm teachers\u201d— George Osborne (@George Osborne) 1519297450
If you'd rather arm teachers and task them with the possibility of shooting down their own students if one of them enters their school with a gun...
than make it more difficult for those students to get a gun in the first place..
Your priorities are beyond fucked.
-- Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) February 22, 2018
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Sparking swift backlash Thursday morning, President Donald Trump attacked the news media for reporting on his comments Wednesday about the possibility of instituting "concealed carry for teachers" in an effort to deter school shootings, then doubled down on the proposal, tweeting that firearms should be given to "highly trained" and "only the best" teachers, which he claimed "would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive."
\u201cI never said \u201cgive teachers guns\u201d like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving \u201cconcealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience - only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519302388
\u201c....immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this. Far more assets at much less cost than guards. A \u201cgun free\u201d school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519303208
\u201c....History shows that a school shooting lasts, on average, 3 minutes. It takes police & first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to site of crime. Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519304049
\u201c....If a potential \u201csicko shooter\u201d knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won\u2019t go there...problem solved. Must be offensive, defense alone won\u2019t work!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519304718
During a listening session at the White House on Wednesday--part of the national discussion about gun violence that's come after 17 people were killed last week in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida--the president noted a proposal popular among gun advocates: "A teacher would have a concealed gun on them," and "they'd go for special training," Trump explained, so if a school shooting occurred, a teacher "who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly." He added, "We're going to be looking at [the proposal] very strongly... I think a lot of people are going to like it."
\u201cTrump\u2019s specific phrases yesterday:\n- \u201cpeople that are very adept at handling a gun\u201d\n- \u201cconcealed carry for teachers and for people of talent - of that type of talent\u201d\u201d— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1519303851
Several people took to social media on Thursday to call out Trump for the blatant dishonesty in his follow-up tweets:
\u201cTrump just tweeted that the Fake News media lied about him saying that we should give teachers guns, while simultaneously tweeting that we should give teachers guns. Is this a joke?\u201d— Eugene Gu, MD (@Eugene Gu, MD) 1519303024
On Wednesday, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) passed a resolution that condemned gun violence as well as the proposal to arm teachers.
"I am sickened by those doing the bidding of the gun lobby, and those like President Trump and [Education Secretary] Betsy DeVos who want an arms race and to turn schools into militarized fortresses by arming teachers," said AFT President Randi Weingarten. "Anyone who wants guns in schools has no understanding of what goes on inside them--or worse, doesn't care."
In response to Trump's "concealed carry for teachers" comments and his follow-up tweets, critics also expressed alarm at the proposal to give firearms to educators:
\u201cFormer Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student @ShanaMRosenthal responds to Trump's call to arm teachers: "I don't believe we should be arming our teachers\u2026 it's sad that it would even have to come to that point, and we should really focus on the main issues" #DNlive\u201d— Democracy Now! (@Democracy Now!) 1519306694
\u201cOur @Adamstoon1 @EveningStandard takes a look at Trump\u2019s plan to arm teachers\u201d— George Osborne (@George Osborne) 1519297450
If you'd rather arm teachers and task them with the possibility of shooting down their own students if one of them enters their school with a gun...
than make it more difficult for those students to get a gun in the first place..
Your priorities are beyond fucked.
-- Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) February 22, 2018
Sparking swift backlash Thursday morning, President Donald Trump attacked the news media for reporting on his comments Wednesday about the possibility of instituting "concealed carry for teachers" in an effort to deter school shootings, then doubled down on the proposal, tweeting that firearms should be given to "highly trained" and "only the best" teachers, which he claimed "would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive."
\u201cI never said \u201cgive teachers guns\u201d like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving \u201cconcealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience - only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519302388
\u201c....immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this. Far more assets at much less cost than guards. A \u201cgun free\u201d school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519303208
\u201c....History shows that a school shooting lasts, on average, 3 minutes. It takes police & first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to site of crime. Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519304049
\u201c....If a potential \u201csicko shooter\u201d knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won\u2019t go there...problem solved. Must be offensive, defense alone won\u2019t work!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1519304718
During a listening session at the White House on Wednesday--part of the national discussion about gun violence that's come after 17 people were killed last week in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida--the president noted a proposal popular among gun advocates: "A teacher would have a concealed gun on them," and "they'd go for special training," Trump explained, so if a school shooting occurred, a teacher "who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly." He added, "We're going to be looking at [the proposal] very strongly... I think a lot of people are going to like it."
\u201cTrump\u2019s specific phrases yesterday:\n- \u201cpeople that are very adept at handling a gun\u201d\n- \u201cconcealed carry for teachers and for people of talent - of that type of talent\u201d\u201d— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1519303851
Several people took to social media on Thursday to call out Trump for the blatant dishonesty in his follow-up tweets:
\u201cTrump just tweeted that the Fake News media lied about him saying that we should give teachers guns, while simultaneously tweeting that we should give teachers guns. Is this a joke?\u201d— Eugene Gu, MD (@Eugene Gu, MD) 1519303024
On Wednesday, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) passed a resolution that condemned gun violence as well as the proposal to arm teachers.
"I am sickened by those doing the bidding of the gun lobby, and those like President Trump and [Education Secretary] Betsy DeVos who want an arms race and to turn schools into militarized fortresses by arming teachers," said AFT President Randi Weingarten. "Anyone who wants guns in schools has no understanding of what goes on inside them--or worse, doesn't care."
In response to Trump's "concealed carry for teachers" comments and his follow-up tweets, critics also expressed alarm at the proposal to give firearms to educators:
\u201cFormer Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student @ShanaMRosenthal responds to Trump's call to arm teachers: "I don't believe we should be arming our teachers\u2026 it's sad that it would even have to come to that point, and we should really focus on the main issues" #DNlive\u201d— Democracy Now! (@Democracy Now!) 1519306694
\u201cOur @Adamstoon1 @EveningStandard takes a look at Trump\u2019s plan to arm teachers\u201d— George Osborne (@George Osborne) 1519297450
If you'd rather arm teachers and task them with the possibility of shooting down their own students if one of them enters their school with a gun...
than make it more difficult for those students to get a gun in the first place..
Your priorities are beyond fucked.
-- Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) February 22, 2018