Firearms would provide extra security. If you support it, you can call 202 7488000. If you oppose it, 202 7488001. And if you are a teacher, we have a special line for you. You can call 202 7488002 to give us your thoughts. You can also reach us on social media, on twitter at cspan wj and on facebook at facebook. Com cspan. Lets take a look at what President Trump said yesterday, speaking at the conservative Political Action conference about his proposal on guns. When we declare our schools to be gun free zones, it just puts our students in far more danger. Danger. [applause] welltrained, gun adept teachers and coaches and people who work in those buildings, people in the marines for 20 years he retired, the army, navy, coast guard, people who are adept with weaponry and with guns, they teach. Have 100 dont want to guards standing with rifles all over the school. You do a concealed carry permit. [applause] and this would be a major deterrent, because these people are inherently cowards. If they thought, like if this guy thought that other people would be shooting bullets back at him, he would not have gone to that school. He would not have gone there. Host michael is on the line from newark, new jersey, a teacher. What do you think about the proposal to encourage some teachers to carry concealed weapons . Caller i do not really think it is a good idea. I think these people who come into the schools would not really care if a teacher or multiple teachers had guns. I think it is more of a Mental Health issue, so i think it will kind of increase the fire going back and forth. It does not really make much sense. Host if you were offered a trainingr example, or in firearm use, do you think you might consider at all taking a gun into the school . Caller no, because i would not trust myself enough, no matter how much training i had, to keep a, to be ready at all times and b, to not shoot the kids by accident. Host what grade do you teach . Caller i teach third and fourth grade. With the you satisfied safety in your school, the ability of your school to protect students in the event of some awful attack . The so, right after monday following the parkland shooting, we had a lockdown drill. Located at thes very end of the school, and there is only one entrance, so i am pretty satisfied with our safety. My school only goes up to fourth grade, so why not really too worried. The building is pretty secure, so i do not really have many concerns, but you never know what people. Host in todays New York Times, on the front page it details how many alerts were made about the suspect, and nothing was done. The warnings that Law Enforcement officials received about nikolas cruz were anything but subtle. I know he is going to explode, a woman said on the fbi tip line. Her big worry was that he might resort to slipping into a school and shooting the place up. 40 days later, he is accused of doing just that, by urging it to high school in parkland, florida, shooting 17 people to death. Three months before the massacre at douglas high school, a family friend dialed 911 to tell the Palm Beach CountySheriffs Office about mr. Cruzs personal arsenal. I need someone here because i am afraid he comes back and he has a lot of weapons, the friend said. Victor is calling from silver spring, maryland. You support the proposal to allow some teachers to be armed. Tell us why. Caller the main reason is, the main point, concealed. You do not want to let these criminals know who has a gun and who does not have a gun. That is the whole point. You do not put a whole bunch of armed people in school. Few and do not tell who has a gun, who does not have a gun. Maryland proudly display gun free zone. I make it a point, never, ever to go into a business that declares themselves gun free zone. I was growing up, i remember mentally ill people were put in mental institutions, but the liberals made such a big stink in the early 1970s that all these people were let go because the democrats need them to vote for them. Host what about concerns expressed by some people that having guns in schools might increase the chances of an the gun falling into the wrong hands inside the school . Are you concerned . Caller no, i am not here it i had a couple of military friends i am not. I had a couple of military friends with concealed weapons on them, and i felt safe knowing that if something did happen, they would get their guns out and shoot the bad guy dead. Host calling from savannah, georgia, you oppose the president s idea. Why . Caller good morning. When theit because Second Amendment was written, i do not think no one is living now in america that has been living in america now. I think the situation goes like this. , to arme need guns teachers with guns . You go to college to learn how to teach. You did not go to school to learn how to carry a gun. We are now teaching how to run away from situations instead of kids learning in school. Those kids in florida are the most educated kids i have seen, as far as going to school. You have a president who dont have a clue about putting a teacher in a school with a gun. What would that do to the kids . My son is a schoolteacher in jacksonville, florida. I am very proud of him. He is a math teacher. I would not imagine my son carrying a gun in the classroom teaching his kids. Veteran, and iar do not think my son would appreciate the idea of carrying a gun. The idea that the president just teachers toaying carry a gun is the most stupid thing that any leader of this country ever proposed. This guy and the white house dont have a clue. Host the wall street journal reports some teachers are arming themselves in the classroom. They are allowing faculties to carry weapons, but it is in your security measure that can provide an Immediate Response when a shooter is on campus. The faster we can respond, the more of our babies are saved, said christopher burroughs, superintendent at Georgetown School schools, a 1060 student district where some teachers carry guns. Those people that are armed are part of our safety team. Donald from california, you support the proposal. Caller yes, i do. Thank you for answering my call. I support the president wholeheartedly, and i think more people should, because he is working tirelessly trying to get things done in america. This thing about Arming Teachers is a good thing. I will tell you why. Because when the populace is armed and nobody knows who has a gun, but he steps out of line. The only way nobody steps out of line. The only way to catch a criminal is if you dont know who to shoot first. If he starts indiscriminately pointing a gun at a kid, the person can take him out before he hurts any children. Host the New York Times has more from the president s remarks yesterday about his proposal, including the fact that the president vilified the School Security official who did not respond to the shooting. President donald trump condemned on friday in parkland, florida, a sheriffs deputy who stayed outside the school, patrolling while the shooter rampage unfolded inside, even as he assisted that his proposal to arm welltrained teachers would have prevented the massacre. When it came time to get in there and do something, he did not have the courage, and he certainly did a poor job. There is no question of that. Resigned after video showed he failed to enter the high school to confront the gunman as he was killing 17 people. The president went on to call that sheriffs deputy a coward. On the line from hostetter, pennsylvania, you are a teacher. What do you think . Caller i think it might be a we had a Council Meeting here. You have two minutes to state your case. If you get in an argument with council members, you will get locked out. Another thing, why cant they have doors that are one way, that open out . Why cant they have a camera sitting at the front door . If you do not state your case, what you want, and if you are carrying something that is not legal, do not open the door. Host what level do you teach . Caller eighth and ninth. Host are you happy with the security in your school . Do you feel secure . Caller not really. Host why not . When school is open and when it is closed, that is it. When you go to the student Council Meeting, that is sitting there whole time. They built a new school in pennsylvania and i do not know if they should have these doors open, but they should look into it. Host American Federation of teachers president Randi Weingarten was on our Newsmakers Program yesterday, and was asked to respond to the suggestion that more teachers be armed. It is a terrible idea, period, full stop. It saddened me because it showed absolutely no understanding that children and parents and educators all want and need schools to be safe sanctuaries for teaching and learning, not armed fortresses, not armed caps. Camps. It felt like, this is what the nra has wanted all along. This is a new market for the gun manufacturers, and this is where the president , after that listening session, took this conversation, instead of trying to reduce gun violence in our streets and our schools. If you think about it it is an insane suggestion because what are you going to do in terms of for kindergarten teachers going to wear their guns on their hip . Are you talking about just handguns versus and ar15 that can shoot 90 rounds in a minute . What happens if people are rushing along in a hallway, what is a frightened teacher going to do . I could go through all of these Unanswered Questions and the more questions you go through, the more you realize what an insane idea it is. Frankly, i was on the phone with about 60,000 teachers and other educators this week. As one ofthis idea the ideas the president said, and universally, including gun owners, people said no, this is crazy. Then you saw what happened with the sheriffs deputy. The whole idea of the good guy with the gun was debunked by that guy being completely immobilized, a guy who had a gun right outside of the school. So for all these reasons, it is a terrible idea. You can host you can watch the full newsmakersomorrow at at 12 40 p. M. And 6 00 p. M. That is with Randi Weingarten. Andrew is on the line from white plains, new york, you oppose encouraging teachers to carry guns. Why . Caller good morning, and thank you for cspan. I oppose it because i think you are making schools into an armed camp and i do not think that is a good idea. Safe, as my school being i do not know if any parent can say our schools are safe after what has been happening recently. I think that going back to this wild west mentality with everyone armed and able to protect themselves is a terribly romantic and stupid idea that is not going to solve the problem. I would also like to make one observation. Donald trump has successfully seized the debate and taken it away from whether or not we should regulate assault rifles, and placed this crazy idea of Arming Teachers. He has shown his political adeptness, and i am sorry to say we have been pulled off of the real issue, controlling assault weapons that should be more regulated. Host the president proposed some other things as well, beefing up background checks, raising the minimum age to purchase long guns. What do you think about those . Caller windowdressing. He is using that to show how reasonable he is. It depends on what crowd he is talking to. He speaks in front of those about those in front of australia because there is gun control, and then he gets in front of cpac and lets it all out. We are being led around by the nose i donald trump. Calling from grafton, ohio, you support the call to armed teachers. Hello, kevin. Caller i want to thank you for the call. I support donald trump in Arming Teachers just simply because we need it at this time. Society has changed. I am a grandfather. I have grandkids at every school around here. The simple fact is that we have fire extinguishers and fire hoses in every school. The simple thing is, in case a fire breaks out. The times have changed. When i went to school, i actually took my shotgun to school. Of course, it was unloaded. I put it in my locker and i would go hunting at the end of the day. Times have changed that we cannot have that anymore. If we can put a fire extinguisher in a school and a teacher, i am sure, would put out a fire, it is there to be used. As far as the ar15s and socalled assault rifles, they are actually no more than a customized, cosmetic change to an actual hunting rifle. People are focusing on these assault rifles. They were just actually no more than a cosmetic change to a hunting rifle. It is a shame that our teachers cannot carry guns in school for the simple fact that they need a tool to address the issues in our society, because our society has changed. It is a society of violence, as you watch the kids playing their video games, killing things left and right. They lost the regard for life. Of course, we have mentally deranged people that will bring a gun into school. If we defend our country, why wouldnt we defend our children . We put bar guards in our banks, guards everywhere else to protect our money and various other things. Our kids are left shooting fish in a barrel. Host kevin is calling from waldorf, maryland, you oppose the president s plan. Caller how are you doing this morning . I am a retired marine. I went into the marine corps right after high school, so i signed up when i was 17. I have been exposed to weapons well in the marine corps. Limit, iaising the age am not so sure i was mature enough at 18 to have a weapon. Being supervised in the marine corps and all the training we get, you become accustomed with the weapon. A does not happen overnight. An 18yearolde person is mature enough, and with the extensive training i received in the marine corps, i can see a difference between me at 18 and someone who just walks out to buy a weapon. Host what about teachers who are trained, they go through training to be able to handle a or people who are ready have concealed carry license and have gone through that training, how do you feel about them having their weapons in the school . Caller that brings another good question. I served time in the marine corps, green sukkot dish Marine Corps Security force. Our job was to protect the base and special weapons. We received an extensive amount of training on the weapons range. You shoot with your left and right hand. We shot shotguns. We even did is combat and aildings, a gunfight in building is different than a gunfight in the street because you have corners and doors. We would learn how to breach a building, get in their bank, and take down get in there, and take down the bad guys. He pulled the fire alarm. All the kids are coming out. He is shooting everything. A teacher cannot shoot everything. Who is going to take that liability . What if he takes a hostage and says, put down your weapon or im going to kill you . President trump says, the bad guy will not know. If i am a bad guy and no teachers are allowed to carry weapons, i do not carry care if the teacher has a weapon or not. Teachers become a target. A teacher cannot shoot everybody. It is a slippery slope. Host the Washington Examiner reports that four Broward County shares deputies failed to enter the Florida School during the shooting. Deputiesf four shares failed to enter the high school in parkland, florida, during the mass shooting. It was reported that Broward CountyDeputy SheriffScott Peterson who served as the Armed School Resource officer, did not enter the school, but was not the only one. Three other Broward County deputies also remained outside the school with their pistols drawn as they took cover behind their vehicles. Additional additional officers were frustrated and surprised that the shares deputies did not accompany them as they entered the school. Pat is calling from southpointe, ohio. You support the president s proposal. Tell us why. Caller yes, i do. Have you noticed the majority of the shootings we have had have been in schools or churches . They do not expect anyone to have a firearm. Teachers and different people in the churches go through a Tactical Training program, whereas the marine said earlier they were taught to breach a building. These people would be taught to handle the gun, you know what to do when someone walks through those doors with a firearm. Do,hey know exactly what to they are not going to be overwhelmed. Y are not going to be their automatic training will kick in. Host what about the concern that some people have expressed that you have a school, particularly if you have kids that are troubled and know there are weapons in the school, that maybe they can get their hands on them or that there can be an accident if there are armed weapons in the school . Caller if a teacher has been through concealed carry classes, if they have had the Tactical Training, their guns are going to be in a place that they will will notchance, there be a chance of a child getting this by accident, or something going wrong. I am not just a mother who has been sitting back watching this on tv. In 1993, when the School Shootings first started, my daughter was in a school where a 17yearold walked into his class with a gun, pulled it out, killed his teacher, took his classmates hostage, and killed the custodian. I am not just speaking from sitting here watching tv. I am speaking from experience. I thank you for my dish for your time. For your time. Host mike from stanford, connecticut, you oppose the plan. Why . Caller like that woman was just saying, no one can ever get a hold of this gun. Accidents dont happen . Kids do not shoot themselves in houses . It will never get opendoc . Will bee will be taught to do what they are going to do. If she willing . I do not think so. Spurs trump, private bone , where is he going to be . When i went to school, there was discipline. They had a paddle. W