White House Announces Support For Arming Teachers, Backpedals On Gun Purchase Age
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-arm-teachers-gun-purchase-age_us_5aa5c57ae4b086698a9f0828
The series of proposals generally fall in line with what the NRA supports
The White House announced support Sunday for firearms training for some teachers to protect schools, and has apparently backed off an earlier call by President Donald Trump to raise the age individuals can purchase assault-style weapons from 18 to 21, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reported.
The series of proposals generally fall in line with what the National Rifle Association supports in the wake of the massacre last month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people.
The nation’s largest teachers lobby, the National Education Association, is adamantly opposed to Trump and the NRA’s controversial initiative to arm teachers. An armed teacher in Georgia last month fired his handgun after he barricaded himself in a high school classroom , where he was eventually arrested by police. NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre touted arming teachers in a speech last month to the Conservative Political Action Conference . The White House plan would involve funding to provide weapons training for teachers.
Trump’s apparent reversal from proposing to raise the age young people can buy military assault-style weapons like the AR-15 that was used in the Parkland school shooting is a startling turnaround. It comes just weeks after he taunted legislators, saying that they were “ afraid of the NRA, ” while he was not. Trump specifically asked Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) if the senator had left raising the minimum age for gun purchases out of his bill strengthening background checks because senators “are afraid of the NRA.”
Last month, Trump said in a meeting with legislators: “Now, this is not a popular thing to say, in terms of the NRA. But I’m saying it anyway. You can’t buy [a handgun until] until you’re 21. But you can buy the kind of weapon used in the school shooting at 18. I think it’s something you have to think about.”
On Friday, Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott — a longtime NRA member — signed a bill into law raising the minimum age for all gun purchase from 18 to 21. But the NRA almost immediately sued to block the law and protect the “ constitutional rights ” of would-be gun buyers under the age of 21. The state’s controversial “guardian program” — opposed by the Florida Education Association — will allow some school employees and teachers to carry handguns with law enforcement training if a school district agrees to participate in the program.
The White House guns plan also includes support for a bill, known as the “Fix NICS” measure, designed to improve background checks for gun purchases. But it does not contain universal background checks, which would be far more effective.
“Fix NICS” is a bill sponsored by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) to bolster the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) by improving the flow of information into it from states and various federal agencies. But the measure is far less ambitious than universal background checks, which would include private sales, such as those that often occur at gun shows.
The White House announced that the president is establishing a federal commission on school safety, to be chaired by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, that will explore possible solutions to school shootings. It may consider the age young people can purchase guns, the Post reported. But nothing in the current White House proposals address raising the minimum age for buyers.
DeVos called the proposals a “pragmatic plan” to increase school safety, the Post reported.
Several Democrats slammed the proposals. “This plan is weak on security and an insult to the victims of gun violence,” Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) said in a statement. “When it comes to keeping our families safe, it’s clear that President Trump and Congressional Republicans are all talk and no action.”
Article is LOCKED by author/seeder
It only took a couple of days and a meeting with the NRA for Trump to backpedal...Nothing new.
Yeah......Trump is nothing but a money whore. He'll screw anyone over for the right price.
You just accidentally, unintentionally made a factual statement. The Shitbag-de-Mar-a-Lago is over his head in debt to Putin (via multiple Russian oligarch's money-laundering in Shitbag properties). Stayed tuned for details.
Yes he really does. I wonder how many actual dollars he has to his name - after his whoring out the presidency - probably a lot more, but before he enriched himself off the presidency by charging for golf carts for Secret Secrvice, staying in Rump hotels, etc., etc., etc. but he is and always has been white trash.
No one in the U.S. will loan to him - hence all the money via Russian money laundering like stated above. Yes, Donald Rump is little putin's cock holster. He is truly in debt to little putin.
How much does he owe, and what FACTS besides braying about it can you provide?
I'm betting NONE.
Good, as noted by DeVos, pragmatic solutions to the problem at hand. Not irrational/emotional overreactions which accomplish little but stepping on liberties of law abiding citizens
You obviously didn't see or wouldn't admit how that moron completely humiliated herself on 60 Minutes by exposing (yet again--see her confirmations hearing) complete ignorance of our education system and her total dedication to destroying it. There's a reason that even enough R senators voted against her that Pence had to break the tie to get this POS in.
Posted this on another article , and thought this fit over here as well.
IF the age to purchase a firearm is raised to 21 , that would open the door for a lot of other laws on the books to be changed , such as selective service registration, since 1980 every male 18 or older has to register , no exemptions ( and yes it even says that aliens , both legal and illegal have to register) , if they don't they lose certain benefits such as education loans and a few other things. I can see the argument arising that if they cant buy a firearm at 18 ,m they should not be required to register for anything for the government.
Now the government legislatures CAN make exemptions such as someone in that 18-20 age group that meet certain criteria , can still buy firearms of a more classic design ( hunting rifles and shotguns) and there would be no infringement on that age groups constitutionally protected rights, another exemption could be , those in military service , be it active duty or guard and reserve status .
Another thing that would have to be considered is how many in the effected group already are exersizing their right to own a firearm , so some sort of grandfathering would have to be considered so as to not infringe on a constitutionally exersized right already being exersized, it is after all only 3 years.
The devil they say is in the details .
Now did the NRA influence the decision to take a step back? most likely with threats of constitutional lawsuits , but I think that the WH councils office , might have also contributed to the step back from the issue as well, you know the group of lawyers that advises the president on what the office can and cannot do , and both the pros and cons of an idea.
Again , the devil is in the details .
I think trump simply got the gun control lobbys hopes up only to take a cool down period.
Bollocks. Although I'd be all in favor of raising the age to 21 this is yet another bogus analogy. Being in the military is not in the least akin to going out an buying an AR-type rifle as a civilian where there's no training requirement whatsoever. Furthermore, service members are not given their rifles to "play with" in whatever way they wish. But, if you want to keep the age at 18 then let's put the same requirements on civilians as we do for 18 year olds in the military.
atheist , cant say I quite know what your calling bollocks on , just the snippet you copied or the whole post. I take it you mean the whole post so I will respond from there.
If the age is to be raise to 21 for purchase , then yes a lot of laws will have to be looked at and rewritten to get the desired affect, that's a given , but has been pointed out , private sales are a work around for age restrictions in a lot of states , so it will be up to those states legislatures to do the changes needed.
Now , according to the federal government age of majority (adulthood ) is 18 and that is supposedly when we all gain our constitutional rights and protections , but that's not always the case as we know.
raising the age to 21 for ANY firearm purchase would conflict with an protected enumerated constitutional individual right . the work around I have posited is mentioned , which would require the creation of another class of long guns , with a legally defendable definition , not subject to political whims , you might call it an assault weapons ban , I will expand on this a little .
making the purchase of any firearm, that is deemed to be a tactical firearm, meaning it has certain military features , and characteristics that enhance its concealability , that allows for a ( to be determined ) minimum collapsed /adjusted length, that can readily without effort accept accessories on the move ,to the age of 21.
Now LE does not call their weapons assault weapons , and most of them do not have full auto capability , what they do call them is tactical weapons, so their description of a tactical weapon could also be used in defining other characteristics not already mentioned .
Notice I did not mention any action type, because any action type can be modified after market to fit the definition thus far. and using this as a benchmark also allows the continued exersize of the right to bear arms for the more classic , if not old school types of rifles and shotguns.
I will now address the training aspect , for target shooting , if they belong to a gun range most ranges have safety protocols that members must follow in order to use said range , most ranges/clubs I have belonged to also require that new members be given a range safety briefing /class, the does and donts of that particular range.
Lets say the 18-20 is a hunter, every person born after 1966 is required by law in all 50 states to have taken a hunter safety course before they can buy a hunting lic, part of that week long course is dedicated to safe firearms handling and it is constantly being brought up.
Now , if this is not acceptable , and the goal is to simply raise the age to 21 , sorry but , I will not support the removal of a right from a group of individuals , that already have that right to exersize ,with out them having a way to continue to exersize it.
If we were starting from scratch, I'd say, the age thing is an interesting discussion I'd be willing to have. In a vacuum, I probably wouldn't even make the age 21. If I can't rent a car until I'm 25, then that seems like a good age for gun ownership.
However, if you're changing the age as a response to mass shootings, then there's little logical support for it, and it's terribly unfair. If you look at the school shootings going back to Columbine, I think the kid in Florida is the first one since those kids to be 18 or younger. So, you're not really solving a problem. All you're doing is punishing millions of law-abiding 18 year old in perpetuity because once every couple of decades some psycho 18 year old shoots somebody with a rifle.
A lot of people move out of their parents' house and start families when they're 18. Are they not to be allowed to defend themselves?