At a White House listening session on school safety with students and teachers, a Sandy Hook parent wrecked Donald Trump’s new proposal to bring more guns into American schools by arming teachers.
Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was killed in the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, looked Trump in the eye and said bringing more guns into classrooms by giving them to teachers is a terrible idea.
Video:
MUST WATCH: Mark Barden, father of Sandy Hook victim making a lot of sense about arming teachers: “Schoolteachers have more than enough responsibilities right now than to have to have the awesome responsibility of lethal force to take a life,” pic.twitter.com/xCnUkl0EXu
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— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) February 21, 2018
Barden, whose wife also happens to be a schoolteacher, told Trump:
Schoolteachers have more than enough responsibilities right now than to have to have the awesome responsibility of lethal force to take a life. Nobody wants to see a shootout in a school and a deranged sociopath on his way to commit an act of murder in a school knowing the outcome is going to be suicide is not going to care if there is somebody there with a gun. That’s their plan anyway.
As Barden said, bringing more guns into schools isn’t the right approach and it likely wouldn’t remove the motivation of a deranged individual. It also wouldn’t make classrooms safer. Not to mention the fact that we shouldn’t want to live in a society in which the job description of a schoolteacher includes firearm use.
Trump wants more guns in classrooms, not less
While many of the people who participated in the White House listening session offered substantive proposals, it’s clear the NRA-owned president will advocate “solutions” that please the gun lobby and don’t really make schools or communities any safer.
Studies have shown that where there are more guns – in homes, for example – there are more deaths. There is no reason to believe this wouldn’t translate to classrooms. Still, Trump pushed the idea on Wednesday.
“It would be teachers and coaches,” Trump said, pointing out individuals who should be packing heat while kids try to learn algebra or take final exams.
During the campaign, Trump struck a different tone, saying he doesn’t want more firearms in classrooms.
Crooked Hillary said that I want guns brought into the school classroom. Wrong!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 22, 2016
Despite being faced by parents of those who lost their kids to gun violence, like Mark Barden, Trump appears to be unconvinced that guns are a problem in America. If he was, he wouldn’t be pushing new policies that expand access to these weapons.
The NRA campaign contributions to this president and his GOP allies continue to be well-spent.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
