Pres. Donald Trump has pushed looking into arming and training teachers. However, the School Safety commission that he set up kind of sidestepped that issue, according to Politico. Instead, the group chaired by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recommended more coordination between law enforcement and school officials. It also said that communities should look into encouraging military veterans and former law enforcement to work in schools.
Now the commission also stayed away from commenting on raising the legal age for buying certain firearms, such as AR-15s. However, it did recommend that states adopt “extreme risk protection orders,” also known as red flag laws. These laws temporarily restrict access to firearms by those found to be a danger. A court would issue the orders, but there is some debate regarding due process when removing firearms from individuals. In fact, there have already been issues, with officers in Maryland killing a man while serving a protective order.
Trump Still Pushes Armed Teachers
Pres. Trump, however, continued to show support for arming teachers during a discussion about the report.
“These are people, teachers in many cases, that are the highest trained that you can get,” said Pres. Trump. “People that are natural to firearms. People that know how to handle them. People that have great experience, and on top of the experience, have taken courses and they are right on the site. This is critical to the hardening of our schools against an attack.”
Pres. Trump has mostly supported gun rights during his term. However, he did order the ATF to look into reclassifying bump stocks as machine guns. In fact, bump stock owners now have 90 days to either destroy or turn in all devices that allow semi-auto rifles to fire like a full auto. In any case, Pres. Trump wants schools to consider training school personnel, including teachers, to stop school shooting with firearms.
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