Trump considers arming teachers as students hold protest
WASHINGTON, (MILLAT ONLINE)::Students galvanized by the deadly mass shooting at a Florida high school confronted lawmakers on Wednesday with demands to restrict sales of assault rifles, while President Donald Trump suggested arming teachers as a way to stop more US rampages, MIA reported Thursday.
The unprecedented lobbying effort by groups of teenagers and parents at the White House and at the Florida statehouse in Tallahassee played out as fellow students staged classroom walkouts and rallies in cities across the country.
Trump, in an emotional hour-long meeting with students who survived the Florida shooting and a parent whose child did not, said arming teachers and other school staff could help prevent future mass shootings, voicing support for an idea backed by the powerful National Rifle Association gun lobby.
The Republican president, who has championed gun rights and was endorsed by the NRA during the 2016 campaign, said he would move quickly to tighten background checks for gun buyers and would consider raising the age for buying certain types of guns.
The attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students and educators were slain on Feb. 14 in the second-deadliest shooting at a US public school, has revived the long-running US debate over gun rights.
Investigators said the assault was carried out by 19-year-old former Stoneman Douglas student Nikolas Cruz, who purchased an AR-15 nearly a year ago.
“Nikolas Cruz was able to purchase an assault rifle before he was able to buy a beer,” Laurenzo Prado, a Stoneman Douglas student, told reporters at the Florida state capital, referring to a Florida law that allows people as young as 18 to buy assault weapons. “The laws of the country have failed.”
Florida lawmakers in Tallahassee said they would consider raising the age limit to 21, the same standard for handguns and alcohol, although the state Senate on Wednesday opted not to take up a gun control measure.
The US Constitution protects the right of Americans to bear arms, a measure fiercely defended by Republicans. But Trump has come under pressure to act. During the televised White House “listening session” with students, parents and people affected by other U.S. school shootings, Trump spoke at length about how armed teachers and security guards could frighten off potential shooters and prevent more deaths.