“Don’t worry about the NRA. They’re on our side” Trump told Governors
U.S. President Donald Trump told governors on Monday not to
worry about the National Rifle Association lobbying group as states consider
how to improve school safety after 17 students and educators were killed at a Florida high school on Feb. 14 by a gunman with semi automatic rifle.
“Don’t worry about the NRA. They’re on our side,” Trump told more than 35 governors, including Rick
Scott of Florida, during a White House meeting. “And you know what, if they’re not with you, we have to fight them every once in a while. That’s OK. They’re doing what they think is right.”
The massacre at
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, inflamed the
nation’s long-running debate over gun rights.
Trump, a Republican who backed gun rights during and since his 2016 presidential campaign, last week suggested that arming teachers could help stop more rampages. He did not
mention on Monday raising the legal age to buy assault rifles to 21, an idea he
emphasized last week and one that Florida’s Scott, also a Republican, backed
after the rampage.
Investigators said the assault was carried out by Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old former student at the high school, who legally purchased a semiautomatic AR-15 assault weapon nearly
a year ago. Police charged Cruz, who had been kicked out of the school due to disciplinary problems, with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
The shooting has rattled long-drawn political lines on gun rights in the United States, where
Republican officials have often backed any efforts to tighten gun ownership
rules, often out of concern about potential retribution by the powerful NRA.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, told Trump that teachers in his state do not want to carry weapons. In a later interview with the Media he said he was encouraged by
Trump’s apparent flexibility on issues like raising the minimum age to buy
firearms and stronger background checks.
”We do need not just more rhetorical flourishes by the president, “Inslee told media.”If he’s going to be serious, he needs to be true to his commitment.
Florida plans to
invest $500 million to have a significant law enforcement presence in every
public school in the state, Scott told the White House meeting, adding “I‘m not
waiting for the federal
Trump criticized the
law enforcement officers who responded to the shooting.
An armed school resource officer stationed at the school stayed outside during the attack, and has since resigned his position. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel has been
criticized for his department’s response to the shooting.
“The way they performed was, frankly, disgusting,” Trump said, adding that he believed that
if he were in the same situation, he would have run into the school, “even if I didn’t have a weapon”
The
businessman-turned-politician avoided military service during the Vietnam War
through student and medical deferments.
An attorney for Peterson
defended his actions in a statement that he had remained outside because he
believed the gunfire was occurring outside the school, according to local
media.
“Allegations that Mr.Peterson were a coward and that his performance, under the circumstances, failed to meet the standards of police officers are patently untrue,” attorney Joseph
DiRuzzo said in the statement.
Trump has said he plans to limit sales of “bump stocks,” an accessory that can modify a legally purchased
semiautomatic rifle to fire at high rates of speed akin to a machine gun. Fully
automatic machine guns are largely banned under U.S. law. The NRA has pushed
back against that idea, saying that new restrictions on firearms would impinge on the rights of law-abiding gun owners while having no effect on public safety.https://www.semperdiamondlodge.com
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