AFRICA
Trump Speaks Out About Gun Laws and Indicates Willingness to Rush in to Stop School Shooting
On Monday, during the hourlong televised conversation with the governors in the State dining room, President Trump stated that he would rush in to save the students and teachers of Marjory Stonemason Douglas High School to help stop school shooting, even if he was unarmed. He believes he would have shown bravery if he were to be in a situation like the school shooting that happened in Florida a week ago.
During the conversation, Trump wrestled with ideas about how to most effectively respond to mass shootings, including arming teachers and reopening mental institutions as two main options. He also reminisced about the “old days”, when there were more mental hospitals. He promised to ban bump stocks, which is what allows for semi-automatic weapon fire more rapidly like an automatic rifle.
One of the biggest takeaways of this hourlong conversation is President Trump’s verbal assault on Florida sheriff’s deputies. He blamed them for failing to respond to the school massacre quickly and in direct responsibility for the death of 17 staff members and students.
Deputy Scot Peterson of the Broward Country Sheriff’s Office was spotted standing outside of the school for four minutes while the shooting itself lasted for six minutes. He explained that he did not run into the school under the presumption that the shooter was outside. He was suspended and now retired on Thursday as the consequence. Sheriff Scott Israel branded him as “a coward” and President Trump repeatedly expressed his disgust towards Peterson’s behavior.
However, he did not mention raising the age of purchasing a rifle from 18 to 21, which he said last week. This motion was faced with great opposition from the National Rifle Association. This drop in mention is also reciprocated with Trump’s cooperation and support of NRA. He tells the government to not be wary of the NRA. President Trump also had lunch on Sunday with the head of NRA, Wayne LaPierre and the group’s top lobbyist, Chris W Cox, who he referred to as “great patriots”, during which he conveyed the message that he will take action instead of being fixated on talking about a solution. “We have to have action. We don’t have any action”, states President Trump.
Despite his insistence on immediate actions, President Trump failed to provide concrete plans of actions to move forward and remained elusive regarding preferred solutions. He explained this period to be still considered as a “listening” phase and pushed for quick actions and responses from politicians to prevent shootings like this from happening in the future.
President Trump also suggested tightening the system of background checks during gun purchases, which was sponsored by Senator Cornyn of Texas. He also expressed the sentiment that there need to be more mental institutions. Trump believed that too many hospitals have already closed down because they are too expensive to maintain. He lamented that there was “nothing between a prison and leaving him at his house” and stated that mentally unstable people could be prevented from committing crimes or violence by being committed to a mental hospital. A mind troubled like Nikolas Cruz, for example, could have been stopped with a mental institution.
During his lunch with the NRA leaders, Trump also directly clashed with the Democratic leader of Washington State, Governor Jay Inslee. President Trump proposed to allow teachers, staffs and administrators to be trained to carry concealed weapons in schools. This proposal faced vehement opposition from Governor Inslee, who stated that arming any numbers of teachers would be a bad idea. However, Trump did not comment on this criticism. Montana Governor Steve Bullock chimed in with Inslee’s suspicion and said: “I have three kids. I don’t want my teachers armed. I don’t think most Americans do.”
Melania Trump also remarked about the shooting and praised the students of Douglass High School for demanding actions from politicians. She applauded them for their determination and courage, advocating that they “deserve a voice”. This sentiment was echoed by the President.
The leading Republicans, including Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, however, has remained silent on gun laws after Florida shooting.