Trump endorses arming teachers AND doubles-down on support for new gun control

One day after he took fire from gun owners after he called for a ban on bump stocks and taking away the Second Amendment rights of military-aged Americans until they are 21 years old, President Donald Trump made a different kind of news when he advocated for arming some teachers.

From CNN:

President Donald Trump, after listening to a series of emotional stories and pleas to enhance school safety at the White House Wednesday, floated the idea of arming teachers and school staff, an idea that was met with support from many of the attendees. Trump offered some solutions, calling for more mental institutions and hospitals in addition to the idea of arming teachers.

"If you had a teacher who was adept with the firearm, they could end the attack very quickly," he said, stating that schools could arm up to 20% of their teachers to stop "maniacs" who may try and attack them.

"This would be obviously only for people who were very adept at handling a gun, and it would be, it's called concealed carry, where a teacher would have a concealed gun on them. They'd go for special training and they would be there and you would no longer have a gun-free zone," Trump said. "Gun-free zone to a maniac -- because they're all cowards -- a gun-free zone is 'let's go in and let's attack because bullets aren't coming back at us.' "

CNN reported the comment came during a White House listening session marked by poignant testimony from students and parents affected by school shootings.

"I'm not here to debate, but I lost my sister. And like Mr. President said, if you could find 20% of maybe retired law enforcement officers, or a teacher who could go through discreet training to carry a firearm around his waist, it could've been a very different situation," Hunter Pollack, one of Meadow Pollack's brothers, said. "We need more security, we need more firearms on campus, we need better background checks, and we need to study more on mental health."

Fred Abt, father of Parkland shooting survivor Carson Abt, said he had discussed with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over lunch that rather than waiting for first responders to arrive, it would be more efficient to have firearms locked on school campuses.

"One possible solution, which may not be very popular, would be to have people in the school, teachers, administrators who have volunteered to have a firearm safely locked in the classroom who are given training throughout the year," he said. "There are plenty of teachers who are already licensed to carry firearms, have them raise their hands to volunteer for the training, and when something like this starts, the first responders are already on campus."

Trump has continued his comments on the subject Twitter this morning:

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

....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

THIS is the kind of leadership many gun owners expected from the President (despite the fact that he had denied supporting "gun brought into the classroom" as recently as May 21, 2016).

Gun owners definitely were NOT expecting his support for new gun control measures. As Jim Shepherd puts it in The Outdoor Wire this week, "candidate Trump and later President Trump could be characterized...as having a simple message for gun owners: “we will never, never, never infringe on our Second Amendment Rights.”

However, Trumps latest Tweet on the subject today ends with this:

I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue - I hope! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

As Shepherd observes, "it may seem that our definitions on what Second Amendment protections really mean may differ significantly. For most Second Amendment supporters, any additional regulations on guns are beyond the pale.

"In fact, many gun rights groups have already begun to spread the word they will seek legal remedies should Attorney General Sessions make a move to place restrictions on either bump stocks or binary style triggers.

"Seems a fight with the man gun owners helped put in the White House is brewing over gun rights. If that happens, Mr. Trump may learn that formerly ardent supports make the most fierce opponents.

"Like Trump, gun owners don’t easily forgive - or forget - a betrayal."

Donald Trump needs to focus on solutions, not appeasing anti-Second Amendment extremists and the rest of the "blame-the-tool" crowd. And part of the solution IS arming willing teachers. And we're proud that FASTER Saves Lives has been doing just that for five years and counting.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is co-founder of BFA-PAC, and served as its Vice Chairman for 15 years. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.