U.S. President Donald Trump suggested arming teachers to deter future mass shootings as he held an emotional meeting Wednesday at the White House with survivors of the gun rampage that left 17 people dead at a Florida high school. Trump also promised “very strong” background checks on gun owners during the poignant “listening session,” in which he heard first-hand accounts from bereaved parents and friends, and schoolchildren who narrowly escaped with their own lives. “A gun-free zone, to a maniac – because they are all cowards – a gun-free zone is ‘Let’s go in and let’s attack,” Trump said. “If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly,” Trump said, suggesting that 20 percent of a school’s teachers could be trained to carry concealed weapons. “This would only be obviously for people who are very adept at handling a gun,” Trump added. The televised White House meeting came as students staged street protests across the country to demand stricter gun laws following the murder of 14 teens and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Holding signs reading “Never Again” and “Be The Adults, Do Something,” teenaged survivors of last Wednesday’s shooting rallied outside the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee. “No longer can I walk the halls I walked millions of times before without fear and sadness,” Stoneman Douglas student Florence Yared told a crowd that included thousands of supporters. ‘My daughter has no voice’ “No… [Read full story]
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that arming teachers could help prevent massacres like last week’s mass shooting at a Florida high school, voicing support for an idea backed by the National Rifle Association gun rights group. Trump made the comment during an emotional hour-long White House meeting with students who survived the Florida shooting and a parent whose child did not. Hundreds of students joined scattered protests across the country on Wednesday, including in Washington, Chicago and Pittsburgh. The Republican president, who has championed gun rights and was endorsed by the NRA during the 2016 campaign,…... [read more]
LOS ANGELES (VNS) - Several US states are considering allowing school teachers to carry weapons, and educators, determined not to allow a repeat of the Newtown massacre, are flocking to training sessions. As gun control advocates try to outlaw military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, gun enthusiasts, backed by the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), are taking a very different approach. The gun lobby argues that there is no way to stop crazy or evil people doing bad things and so the only sure-fire way to prevent mass shootings like the one at Sandy Hook elementary is to take down…... [read more]
As Americans reeled from the country’s worst school massacre since the horror at Sandy Hook six years ago, President Donald Trump suggested the root cause of the violence was a crisis of mental health -- and defied calls to address gun control.Terrified students hid in closets and under desks on Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, texting for help as the gunman, Nikolas Cruz, stalked the school with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle.Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder, appearing Thursday afternoon via video link before a judge who ordered him held without bond. More…... [read more]
The arrival of Trump and his wife Melania came at the end of a difficult day for the families of those killed in Wednesday’s rampage at a high school in Parkland, Florida, who learned that the carnage could perhaps have been averted.The FBI, the top US law enforcement agency, admitted it had received a chilling warning in January from a tipster who said the 19-year-old gunman, Nikolas Cruz, could be planning a mass shooting, but that agents failed to follow up.At Broward Health North Hospital, where Trump met with survivors of the shooting, the president thanked the doctors, nurses and…... [read more]
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel identified the gunman as Nikolas Cruz, 19, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland who had been expelled for "disciplinary reasons." Cruz was arrested without incident in the nearby town of Coral Springs after the Valentine’s Day rampage and taken to hospital with minor injuries, the sheriff said. "We have already begun to dissect his websites and things on social media that he was on and some of the things... are very, very disturbing," Israel said. "He had countless magazines, multiple magazines, and at this point, we believe he had one…... [read more]
