President Donald Trump on Thursday pushed back on coverage of his meeting with school shooting survivors—saying he did not call for all teachers to carry guns while in the same tweetstorm reiterating his idea that some teachers carry guns.
The president bashed the media in a series of tweets but argued that his plan to arm some teachers would “end” the numerous school shootings in the United States.
Essentially, Trump argued semantics about his idea of arming teachers.
“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,” Trump wrote, continuing in another tweet: “….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!
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
Trump clearly advocated for at least some teachers to be armed in schools on Wednesday, despite what he tweeted on Thursday morning. During his meeting with the survivors, the president seemed to go further with his plan, adding that those with a concealed carry gun would have to go for “special training.”
Here’s what the president said, according to a White House transcript of the meeting:
The president’s nitpicking was quickly noticed by people online.
https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/966654742385582080
https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/966654241518575624
Um. I’m not a professional headline writer, but I’d say that “give teachers guns” is a pretty fair representation of what you say in this tweet that you want. #realnews https://t.co/C0ogOhzAgW
— Michael D. Shear (@shearm) February 22, 2018
The president continued his tweetstorm by reiterating what he said during the meeting such as the average time a school shooting lasts and how an armed teacher or staff member could intervene more quickly.
….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
….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
The comments made during the listening session with survivors on Thursday seemed to pique Trump’s interest. When one parent brought up the idea of arming teachers with concealed guns, Trump said it was “certainly a point we will discuss.”
Another idea Trump floated—having Marines serve as the “very adept” people wielding guns in schools—is a popular Facebook meme that has been shared on the social media platform in light of the shooting a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed last week.
During the campaign, Trump tweeted that he did not want guns in classrooms.