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Trump Repeats Call for Armed Teachers in US Schools

by VOA News

   U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated for the third consecutive
   day the need to arm teachers with concealed weapons to prevent more
   shootings in U.S. schools.
   "It's time to make our schools a much harder target for attackers. We
   don't want them in our schools," Trump said Friday in a speech at the
   Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual event near
   Washington attended by thousands of conservative politicians,
   strategists and activists.
   As he did Thursday, Trump called for up to 20 percent of teachers to
   carry concealed weapons to thwart school massacres.
   "This would be a major deterrent because these [attackers] are
   inherently cowards."
   Trump also called again for comprehensive background checks on gun
   buyers, ending the sale of "bump stocks" that increase the fire power
   of some weapons, and raising the age to buy assault-style rifles from
   18 to 21.

   The NRA

   The president's age proposal is opposed by the National Rifle
   Association, one of the country's most powerful lobbying groups that
   claims 5 million members.

   Trump again clearly indicated he does not intend to battle the powerful
   organization. "They're friends of mine," he said of the group that gave
   more than $11 million to his presidential campaign in 2016 and spent
   nearly $20 million attacking his Democratic Party general election
   challenger, Hillary Clinton.
   Trump's remarks were a continuation of the national debate over gun
   control in the wake of the February 14 killing of students and staff
   members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
   While the president was addressing the conservative audience, Florida
   Governor Rick Scott also called for the minimum age for gun purchases
   to be raised from 18 to 21. Scott, a Republican who has been mentioned
   as a possible Senate candidate, also proposed that a police officer be
   assigned to every public school in the state and for a ban on "the
   purchase or sale of bump stocks."
   In the wake of last week's school shooting, some victims and gun rights
   activists have called for a ban on semi-automatic rifles, such as the
   AR-15, which was used in the recent Florida school shooting.
   The mass shooting has also sparked a wave of rallies in Florida,
   Washington and in other areas of the U.S. in an attempt to force local
   and national leaders to take action to prevent such attacks.