It seems that the school shooting in Florida has instilled in Trump the desire to pass some kind of gun control measures, despite the strong feelings of the conservative base against such a move.
On Thursday, Trump officially declared the desire via his Twitter account, where he said he supports tougher background checks and an age restriction on purchases of AR-15. While this is unsettling news, the president has been trying to throw some bones to the base as well, as he’s still suggesting that arming teachers would be a prudent policy.
As reported at the Daily Mail, on top of his public pronouncements supporting some of the Left’s gun control measures, President Donald Trump doubled down on his proposal to give teachers concealed carry permits on Thursday afternoon, saying as many as 40 percent of educators could be caring guns in some schools.
Unfortunately, the proposal has been met with stiff resistance from the do-nothing GOP, which has rejected Trump’s proposal that hypothetically, teachers that arm themselves could receive a “little bit of a bonus” for doing so.
“You can’t hire enough security guards… You need 100, 150 security guards,” he told state and local leaders during a White House listening session. “But you could have concealed on the teachers.”
Trump’s proposal on Wednesday to arm 20 percent of teachers was criticized as excessive, but the president insisted in a tweet that it would be a ‘GREAT DETERRENT’ to potential shooters.
While his support of the idea is positive, the other policies he’s pushing are not so much.
On top of arming teachers, Trump wants new restrictions. “I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise the age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue – I hope!” Trump tweeted Thursday.
The NRA has already come out against the age restriction idea, saying that such a policy would punish “law-abiding citizens for the evil acts of criminals.”
“We need serious proposals to prevent violent criminals and the dangerously mentally ill from acquiring firearms,” the NRA statement said.
LaPierre didn’t mince words when talking about the politicization of this tragedy, saying the Left “wasted not one second to exploit tragedy for a political gain.”
“For them, it’s not a safety issue, it’s a political issue,’ he said. “Their goal is to eliminate the Second Amendment.” He’s right, and anyone who thinks otherwise is incredibly naive. Plenty of leftists have let slip their true intentions about guns, but they know they can’t get there in one fell swoop, so they chip away whenever they can. They’ll never be satisfied no matter what they say about “respecting” gun owners and the Second Amendment.
It’s very unfortunate that Trump has been swayed by the Left’s propaganda blitz in the face of this tragedy. You cannot give an inch to the Left because they’re looking to take a mile every time.
Source: Daily Mail