Betsy DeVos silent on Trump’s plan to arm teachers

After listening to Trump uncork an unhinged NRA fantasy monologue during a White House meeting about how schools in America need to become heavily weaponized in the wake of the south Florida school massacre last week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos refused to advocate for American teachers.

In fact, after hearing Trump’s long rambling commentary, DeVos, when called on to speak, completely ignored Trump’s plan to have hundreds of thousands of teachers and coaches armed during the school day.

Instead of showing leadership and addressing what that kind of radical proposal would mean for American teachers, DeVos recounted a teacher suggestion about how moving student-seating arrangements can help ease classroom tensions.

DeVos, as the head of the Department of Education, completely ignored Trump’s stunning gun arsenal proposal.

Stressing that we need to “harden our schools” by paying teachers and coaches “a little bit of a bonus” for bringing a firearm into school everyday, Trump both downplayed the need for live-shooter safety drills for students and stressed that classrooms needed to become heavily fortified. Trump wants schools to have “offensive capabilities” to combat mass shootings.

“I want my schools protected just like I want my banks protected,” he said.

Trump also seemed to be under the impression that America public schools are filled with retired U.S. Marines who have decades’ worth of experience handling firearms. According to Trump’s gun fantasy blueprint, those are people who should be carrying guns in the hallways.

Trump specifically refused to endorse any serious initiatives to limit gun ownership in the America, despite the fact that a strong majority of Americans want assault weapons to be outlawed in the U.S

He also stressed that he would not have to go up against the NRA in coming weeks regarding school shootings because the powerful gun lobby group is filled with “patriots” and knows what’s best.

The idea of flooding schools with teachers’ guns has routinely, and emphatically, been met with strong resistance from teachers themselves.

Most Parkland survivors being interviewed have expressed strong opposition to Trump’s radical idea of arming teachers.

“Madness. Just absolute madness,” student Sam Zeif told CNN on Thursday.

“Teachers are faced with the responsibility every single day of molding young lives and mentoring them, and being there for them,” he said. “Why should they be faced with responsibility of knowing whether or not they’re going to have to kill them that day?”

That’s a question Betsy DeVos should be asking.