Teacher arrested for firing gun at school after Trump says arm teachers

Trump spent a week obsessing about arming teachers in response to the shooting at a Florida high school. But reality intruded Wednesday afternoon when police arrested a teacher who fired a gun at Dalton High School in Georgia.

Shortly after noon, police responded to a report of shots fired at the school in Dalton, Georgia.

According to a police spokesman, an unidentified male teacher barricaded himself inside a classroom and fired “at least one shot” when an administrator tried to enter the room.

After a roughly 40-minute standoff, the teacher surrendered and police recovered a firearm.

It was already clear what a dangerous idea it could be to give weapons to teachers.

After Trump suggested during a “listening session” with gun violence survivors that 20 to 40 percent of teachers could be armed, the plan drew immediate criticism.

Yet Trump responded by staking out four different positions on the issue in just 24 hours. He tried to deny he’d ever said teachers should have guns. Then in the same breath, he said guns should be given “to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience.”

Trump then spent most of another hour-long listening session on “school safety” promoting the plan, at which he said that as many as 40 percent of teachers could be armed and trained in exchange for “a little bit of a bonus.”

Then, Trump told reporters that teachers should be armed because a trained deputy didn’t enter the school during the Parkland shooting, even though teachers would have far less training and experience.

At the same event, Trump absurdly insisted “I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon,” despite his well-documented avoidance of military service and fear of unarmed reporters.

Further, as Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee pointed out right to Trump’s face, most teachers and even law enforcement officials disapprove of the idea.

Reality is quickly catching up to Trump and his allies at the NRA. Putting more guns in schools only amplifies the threat to children and educators.

And the frightening incident at Dalton High School highlights the potentially dangerous impact of such a plan.