President Trump: Arm Teachers, Staff and School Shootings Will End

President Trump used a Saturday morning tweet to emphasize his conviction that school shootings will end if we train and arm school teachers and staff.

Trump proposed arming teachers on February 21 and has reiterated the proposal every day since.

On the 21st he suggested arming “20 percent” of public school teachers, and on the 22nd he stressed that first responders are “5 to 8 minutes away,” but teachers can shoot sickos “immediately.”

On the 23rd he spoke at CPAC, and the Daily Mail reported that he also emphasized that we know firsthand the death and mayhem that results when teachers are denied the ability to be armed. He said, “When we declare our schools to be gun-free zones it just puts our students in far more danger.” He explained that it does not have to be that way; that teachers love their students and, because of that love, will defend their students if armed.

On the 24th Trump tweeted:

Armed Educators (and trusted people who work within a school) love our students and will protect them. Very smart people. Must be firearms adept & have annual training. Should get yearly bonus. Shootings will not happen again – a big & very inexpensive deterrent. Up to States.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2018

No teachers were armed when the February 14 attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School occurred. As a result, Nikolas Cruz had a number of minutes without armed resistance and was able to kill 17 people.

A CNN report claims four Broward County sheriff’s deputies were outside the school while the attack was occurring, but none of the deputies went inside to confront Cruz. Armed teachers could have protected students while deputies were outside doing nothing.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.