President Trump: Schools Should Be Safe as Our Airports, Stadiums, Government Buildings

The White House put out a release reflecting President Trump’s desire that our schools should be as safe as our airports, stadiums, and government buildings.

On February 21 Breitbart News reported Trump’s pushed to arm “20 percent” of teachers for school safety. He made clear that he was not talking about forcing teachers to be armed. Rather, he wanted the opportunity for armed teachers to exist so those who volunteer to be armed could undergo proper training and protect their students.

He used his February 23 CPAC speech to express his belief that an appeal to arm teachers is ultimately an appeal to love. He said, “[Teachers] love their students! They don’t want their students to be killed and to be hurt.” He described teachers as “patriots” who “could become schools’ first line of defense against crazed attackers.”

The March 12 White House press release continued the theme of arming teachers by stressing that the administration is ready and willing to “assist States to train specially qualified school personnel on a voluntary basis.” One of the ways this would be accomplished is by leveraging “DOJ assistance programs…to enable schools to partner with State and local law enforcement to provide firearms training for school personnel.”

The White House made clear that another avenue of approach is to “support the transition of military veterans and retired law enforcement officers into new careers in education.” Both groups already possess a keen understanding of firearms and have undergone considerable firearms training.

On February 22 Trump observed that first responders are “5 to 8 minutes” away when a school shooting occurs, but teachers are on scene to shoot sickos “immediately.”

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.