Trump says law enforcement 'coward' is why we should arm teachers
Donald Trump attacked the deputy who failed to stop the shooter in Parkland, Florida, while still arguing that teachers — who have even less training and experience — should carry guns in school.

Trump attacked the deputy who failed to intervene in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Florida last week as a “coward,” but still wants to arm teachers.
Deputy Scot Peterson was suspended and then resigned after a review of the surveillance footage from the school revealed that he never entered the building where the shooting occurred.
“What he did, he trained his whole life. There’s an example. When it came time to get in there and do something, he didn’t have the courage, or something happened. But he certainly did a poor job,” Trump said.
“That’s a case where somebody was outside, they’re trained, they didn’t act properly or under pressure or they were a coward.”
Trump could not explain how teachers could be expected to show more “courage” than the armed deputy he attacked.
Apparently, he doesn’t realized that a trained law enforcement official who was unable to halt the shooting makes the prospect of a civilian educator taking down a killer even more ludicrous.
Trump then praised the NRA, which donated over $30 million to support him in 2016, as “good people.” He went on to echo the extremist organization by renewing his call for teachers to be armed — apparently not understanding that he had just made the case for why this won’t solve the problem.
“The only way you’re going to get it fixed is you have to have a certain amount of offensive power within the school. It can’t only be defense,” he argued.
Pushing for more guns in school is a deflection tactic the NRA has adopted, and experts have repeatedly indicated that the idea makes schools less safe.
Brandon Friedman, a former Army captain who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, told BuzzFeed, “Learning how to fight, how to stand your ground when an aggressor is trying to kill you, that’s not something that comes naturally to people.”
Continuing, he noted, “So in order to teach, now you have to be a soldier? That’s insane.”
The reaction of the Florida deputy was used by Trump to push the idea of cowardice, but it also showed how dangerous his idea of armed teachers is. But as is so often the case, the point flew way over Trump’s head.
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