Trump Hits CNN & NBC, Suggests Arming ‘Gun Adept Teachers’: ‘ATTACKS WOULD END!’
President Trump on concealed carry for teachers: “If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly.” pic.twitter.com/ashuxSUYFl
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 21, 2018
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Thursday morning to dole out a little fact checking to CNN and NBC for their coverage of his listening session with people affected by gun violence.
“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.”
Trump also defended the idea of arming “highly trained teachers” who would “serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this.”
“A ‘gun free’ school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!”
I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. 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
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
….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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
While Trump is splitting hairs a little bit here, it’s true that he did not declare in his Wednesday listening session that all teachers should be armed. He instead called for us to consider giving concealed weapons to teachers who were “adept at firearms.”
Funnily enough, that position conflicts with a Trump tweet from the 2016 election, in which he said that he did not want guns to be “brought into the classroom.”
UPDATE 7:58 a.m. EST: Trump wasn’t finished:
….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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
UPDATE 8:09 a.m. EST: Trump is still tweeting:
….If a potential “sicko shooter” 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’t go there…problem solved. Must be offensive, defense alone won’t work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
[image via screengrab]
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