Trump doubles down on arming some teachers, defends NRA

President Trump on Thursday doubled down on his idea of arming some teachers as a deterrent for school shootings and praised the top leadership of the National Rifle Association as “Great American Patriots.”

In morning tweets, the president claimed the strategy of arming teachers would be far less costly than hiring guards and that “ATTACKS WOULD END!”

The tweets echoed a solution that Trump pushed during a “listening session” Wednesday at the White House, which included family of some of the 17 people killed by a gunman last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida.

“Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive,” Trump said in one tweet.

The strategy of arming teachers has many critics, including some law enforcement officers and the National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers lobby. In a statement Wednesday, NEA president Lily Eskelsen García said, “Educators need to be focused on teaching our students.”

Some criminologists have questioned that reasoning, pointing out that some people who plan to commit mass shootings are prepared to die in the process.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Trump has publicly and privately floated actions that would be at odds with the positions of the NRA, one of his biggest supporters in the 2016 campaign.

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