‘Armed teachers could stop attacks’

Washington : A “gun free” school is nothing but a “magnet” for criminals, President Donald Trump said yesterday, a day after proposing to train and arm some teachers to keep US schools safe.

“Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!” Trump tweeted.

At a White House meeting late on Wednesday with survivors of a shooting rampage at a Florida high school that killed 17 people, Trump suggested arming a select group of teachers to deter mass shootings.

“I never said ‘give teachers guns’ like was stated on Fake News @CNN &@NBC,” Trump tweeted.

“What I said was to look at the possibility of giving ‘concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience – only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to… 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 ‘gun free’ school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!”

At the Wednesday meeting, in which he heard first-hand accounts from bereaved parents, friends and schoolchildren who narrowly escaped the shooting with their own lives, Trump also promised “very strong” background checks on gun owners.

“A gun-free zone, to a maniac – because they are all cowards – a gun-free zone is ‘Let’s go in and let’s attack,” Trump said at the meeting.

Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow was among the Stoneman Douglas victims, told Trump at the White House gathering he was there “because my daughter has no voice. She was murdered last week”.

“We protect airports. We protect concerts, stadiums, embassies,” Pollack said, his voice seething with rage. “I can’t get on a plane with a bottle of water. But we leave some animal to walk into a school.”

The televised meeting came as students staged street protests across the country to demand stricter gun laws following the murder of 14 teens and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.