Well, that didn’t take long. Mere hours after Donald Trump met with survivors of the Parkland shooting – where he advocated for arming teachers as a way to combat school shootings – and he was back up to his old tricks on Twitter, praising the NRA as “great people”.
“What many people don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, is that Wayne [LaPierre, head of the NRA], Chris [W.Cox, executive director] and the folks who work so hard at the NRA are great people and great American patriots,” he wrote, with his random capitalisation of words like the manifesto of your average serial killer. “They love our country and will do the right thing.”
Spoiler: they won’t.
What many people don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, is that Wayne, Chris and the folks who work so hard at the @NRA are Great People and Great American Patriots. They love our Country and will do the right thing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
Trump also took aim at reports that he wants to arm teachers and coaches in schools, saying that he only wants to arm like 20 percent or so.
“I never said ‘give teachers guns’ like was stated on Fake News CNN & NBC,” he tweeted. “What I said was to look at the possibility of giving ‘concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience – only the best.’ 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions.”
He goes on to claim that “highly trained teachers would also serve as deterrents to the cowards” who shoot up schools, despite the fact that most teachers would probably prefer a decent paycheque and funding for school supplies.
“If a potential ‘sicko shooter’ knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack the school. Cowards won’t go there… problem solved. Must be offensive, defence alone won’t work.”
In another tweet, he also claimed that highly trained teachers and guns would “solve the problem instantly, before police arrive.”
Of course, Stoneman Douglas High School did in fact have an armed guard on campus, and 17 people still died.
Shooter Nikolas Cruz – who owned his AR-15 legally – is suspected of pulling the fire alarm to lure students into his path. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said that the guard “was on campus and he was armed”, but that he “definitely never encountered Cruz”.
I guess “everyone should have a gun” is the hill that the NRA wants all schoolchildren to die on.
— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) February 22, 2018
Meanwhile, teachers are using the hashtag #armmewith to call out for what support they’d prefer from the government, rather than guns.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfgOK5nHv6f/?utm_source=ig_embed
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfgCbPynbVW/?taken-by=jlknoll
And yesterday, survivors and families of the victims repeatedly owned Marco Rubio and NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch during a town hall on gun control, and it was just a real treat to watch.
Father of Florida school shooting victim confronts Sen. Marco Rubio: “Your comments this week and those of our President have been pathetically weak” https://t.co/puYEwpdgTl #StudentsStandUp https://t.co/AC5Zh1NuJa
— CNN (@CNN) February 22, 2018
Rubio scores an own goal when he says the assault weapons ban “would literally ban every semi-automatic rifle that’s sold in America” and the crowd erupts in cheers pic.twitter.com/VfIqxCloyo
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 22, 2018
NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch: “This individual was nuts. … None of us support people who are crazy, who are dangerous to themselves, who are a danger to others, getting their hands on a firearm.” https://t.co/V50uSV8IiG #StudentsStandUp https://t.co/P5SiokWN3S
— CNN (@CNN) February 22, 2018
Hilariously, the NRA used a GIF of Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation to thank Loesch for her work, and got absolutely owned by the entire Parks and Rec crew.
Anyway, you can read Trump’s full tweets below. There’s quite a lot of them.
I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving “concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience – only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
….immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this. Far more assets at much less cost than guards. A “gun free” school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
….History shows that a school shooting lasts, on average, 3 minutes. It takes police & first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to site of crime. Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
….If a potential “sicko shooter” knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won’t go there…problem solved. Must be offensive, defense alone won’t work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue – I hope!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
What many people don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, is that Wayne, Chris and the folks who work so hard at the @NRA are Great People and Great American Patriots. They love our Country and will do the right thing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
