Donald Trump: ‘Trained teachers should be able to have guns in classrooms’
Donald Trump says he’s not in favor of requiring teachers to carry guns into U.S. classrooms but believes some of them should be armed.
“I don’t want to have guns in classrooms, although in some cases, teachers should have guns in classrooms, frankly,” the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said in an interview with “Fox & Friends” on Sunday. “Because teachers, you know — things that are going on in our schools are unbelievable.”
Trump’s comments were in response to Hillary Clinton’s assertion that he would “mandate” U.S. schools arm themselves.
“He’d mandate that every school in America allow guns in classrooms,” Clinton said Saturday at an event in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., hosted by the Trayvon Martin Foundation. “That’s no way to keep us safe. If you want to imagine what Trump’s America will look like, picture more kids at risk of violence and bigotry. Picture more anger and fear.”
“I’m not advocating guns in classrooms,” Trump said. “But remember, in some cases … trained teachers should be able to have guns in classrooms.”
The former “Celebrity Apprentice” star blasted the former secretary of state’s stance on gun control on Friday in Louisville, where he accepted an endorsement from the National Rifle Association.
“The Second Amendment is under threat like never before,” Trump said. “Crooked Hillary Clinton is the most antigun, anti-Second Amendment candidate ever to run for office.”
His comments echoed those of NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre.
“If she could, Hillary would ban every gun, destroy every magazine, run an entire national security industry right into the ground and put gun owners’ names on a government registration list,” LaPierre said.
Trump fired off a series of tweets aimed at attacking Clinton on the gun issue.
Crooked Hillary Clinton wants to essentially abolish the 2nd Amendment. No gun owner can ever vote for Clinton!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2016
Crooked Hillary wants to get rid of all guns and yet she is surrounded by bodyguards who are fully armed. No more guns to protect Hillary!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2016
Clinton has frequently challenged the gun lobby during her campaign — calling for stricter background checks and more accountability for gun manufacturers. But she has never called for abolishing the Second Amendment.
Trump, for his part, has suggested that being armed could have helped victims of past school shootings — such as the one that left 10 people dead at a community college in Roseburg, Ore., last fall.
“Had somebody in that room had a gun, the result would’ve been better,” Trump told CBS’s “Face the Nation” at the time, adding that he “sometimes” carries a gun himself.
“I feel much better being armed,” he said.
