White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is cleaning up Donald Trump’s recent comment on the shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Feb. 14). On Monday (Feb. 26), Trump boldly stated that he would’ve “ran into” the Florida school even if he was weaponless where 19-year-old gunman, Nikolas Cruz, killed 17 people. Scot Peterson, the school’s resource officer, also came under fire for remaining idle while Cruz terrorized those inside, and his actions were deemed “disgusting” by Trump.
Now, Sanders provides clarification of what the president’s statement actually means. “I think that he was just stating as a leader he would’ve stepped in and hopefully been able to help,” Sanders said during a White House press conference (Feb. 26). “A number of the individuals that were in the school, like the coach and a number of other adults, and even some students stepped up and helped protect other students. I think the point he was making was that he would’ve wanted to play a role.”
When a reporter asked if Trump was trained to carry a firearm, Sanders said there were a lot of people that day who were successful in helping out without the use of guns.
While her assessment seems to present one thing, Trump expressed the need of giving “adept teachers” firearms to further protect students.
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