Give teachers guns, Trump tells survivors as students rally across US

Donald Trump told Florida massacre survivors that teachers could be armed with weapons while students led rallies across the US.

Students led gun-control rallies across the US, such as the protest at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee. Picture: AP

Donald Trump has promised ­action to stop school shootings, suggesting teachers and other school employees could be armed as a movement led by students demanding tougher gun control regulations turned into a nationwide protest.

The US President sat down with survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in the White House yesterday to hear their stories and suggestions for change, one week after a teenage gunman killed 17 people.

In his strongest language so far, Mr Trump declared “we’re going to get it done” and said he would start work on proposals to prevent more gun violence immediately after he listened to those in the room, who also included parents of the survivors and their teachers.

Sitting with handwritten notes for victims such as “I hear you” in his hands, Mr Trump said teachers and coaches could be trained to carry concealed guns.

“If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly, and the good thing about a suggestion like that ... you’ll have a lot of people like that. You can’t have a hundred security guards in Stoneman Douglas,” he said, adding his government would be “very strong” on background and mental health checks.

“There are many ideas that I have, there are many ideas that other people have and we’re going to pick out the strongest ideas, the most important ideas … and we’re going to get it done. It’s not going to be talk like it has been in the past. It’s been going on too long, too many instances.”

President Donald Trump hosted a ‘listening session’ at the White House, where he met survivors of the Florida massacre including student Carson Abt. Picture: AP

The White House “listening” session followed days of student protests in Florida, which ­transformed into walkouts that spread to other states yesterday, including Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Virginia and Maryland.

Mr Trump also moved on Wednesday to ban “bump stocks” — devices that allow semi-­automatic firearms to fire at close to the rate of a machinegun.

Marching outside the White House, 16-year-old James Delaney, from H-B Woodlawn High School in Arlington, Virginia, told The Australian the Florida shooting had been the “last straw”.

“It makes me pissed to see those people die and they’re only kids, especially the elementary school at Sandy Hook,” he said, referring to the 2012 massacre of 20 students aged between six and seven, along with the six staff. “That infuriates me and I don’t think those people should have access to those weapons.

“I know making semi-­automatic weapons illegal is too much of a stretch and that’s too hard to do, but I do think we should have more background checks and for it to be harder for people to get those weapons.”

Camellia Clifford, 15, said she went to her Richard Montgomery High School “scared every day now” knowing “anybody could walk in with a gun”. She and her classmates watched the scenes at Florida unfold on the social media platform Snapchat.

Mr Trump with personal notes. Picture: AP

“It’s ridiculous you can be 18 in America in a lot of places and buy a gun but you can’t buy a can of beer from a gas station,” she said. “I don’t think anybody should be in possession of an assault rifle just to have fun.

“I want to see lawmakers taking steps to change this and if it doesn’t change in the years coming, we’re going to be able to vote and they’re going to be out of there.

“If we don’t see change it’s going to happen eventually because our generation, I would hope, is coming up and it’s about to get very different.”

Thousands of students, including survivors of the Florida school shooting, rallied at the state Capitol in Tallahassee yesterday to talk with politicians and other state leaders about gun control, mental health and legislative change.

Amid conspiracy theories that the students were “actors”, Florida survivor Kevin Trejos said he and his peers would not be ­silenced or discredited.

“I was in a closet locked for four hours with people who I would consider almost family crying and weeping on me, begging for their lives,” he said.

“I understand what it’s like to text my parents: ‘Goodbye, I might never get to see you again, I love you’. I understand what it’s like to fear for your life.”

Vice-President Mike Pence told those in the “listening” session the Trump administration wanted to hear “how we might make sure that this is the last time this ever happens”, and pledged to make school safety a top priority.

“America is looking on, the President, entire administration, leaders around the country … we want to hear your hearts today,” he said.