There are no words. We go in and address the target. And thats what should have been done. This, as the president and the nra proposed Arming Teachers, teachers across the country are fighting back. This is a ridiculous nothing, many are saying, saying they would rather be armed with books, School Supplies, pencil sharpeners. Im not going to be face the question do i shoot a student or not. And opening the floodgates. Special counsel bob mueller files new charges against former trump aides rick gates and Paul Manafort. Eventually, one of them or both of them is going to break and cooperate or, as i said, die in federal prison. We begin today with the awful and heartbreaking revelations that the park land massacre might have been stopped, if the man hired for exactly this type of situation had actually done his job. Weve heard it over and over from the nra, to stop a bad guy with a gun, take the guy good with the gun. What if the good guy with the gun doesnt do anything . First, can you imagine being a parent of one of these kids at Stoneman Douglas high school and hearing this, Broward County sheriffs Deputy Scott Peterson was armed and on site as a School Resource officer at Stoneman Douglas when the shooting began. He stood outside shielding himself from danger while the students he was supposed to protect were brutally murdered inside, gunned down. What i saw was a deputy arrive at the west side of building 12 and he never went in. Hes an absolute coward. And i think not only should he be in jail for what he did, he should have to sit down and talk to every one of the victims families and explain what his reasoning was for not going in. Very disappointed. Potentially this could have been stopped and some of these people would be alive now. The strength of these teenagers amazes me more every day. Nbcs Kerry Sanders is in parkland. Kerry, you spoke to these students and teachers about what happened. What more do we know about Scott Peterson . Is there any argument to be made that protocol is he should stay outside because it seems unfathomable. These are kids. He saw them every single day. No protocol at all. Deputy in a dynamic situation has to make a certain call but clearly the sheriff here, scott israel, believes, because he reviewed the security videotape, that that deputy took a position, a defensive position, behind a wall for four minutes during the six minutes of the shooting and it was the sheriff who here says the deputy did not do what he is trained to do. Clearly the reaction from the teachers and the students backs that up in terms of their sense of what they would have anticipated him to do. Scott petersons been unavailable for comment. He was given the option to retire and thats what he chose to do. Hes been on the force here for 30, almost 33 years. Hes a veteran. Hes 54 years old. Just a general sense here that nothing that they expected him to do one of the teachers said they had known Deputy Scott Peterson for quite some time on the campus and just never thought that he would react the way he did. Meantime, in tallahassee today, the governor here in florida, rick scott, is going to announce a program and we believe that program is going to be an expansion of a Small Program thats currently in place in some counties. Its called the sen tt tenle program. Qualified teachers are carrying firearms in the event they need to take them out to protect students from a school shooting. Currently, that program operates in polk county and some other counties and we expect there will be an expansion of that. However, here in parkland, marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, theres a general sense among teachers that arming the teachers will not work. In fact, they believe that by the evidence of the way Deputy Scott Peterson did not get into the school, did not enter the building, did not take offensive action, that a trained deputy who didnt do that suggests that somebody who may have some skills in handling a firearm, but not as a Law Enforcement officer in a classroom would even be less likely to be able to handle somebody coming on the campus with a gun. This is what one teacher who i spoke to this morning, alliicea blunt, had to say. No matter how much you train a civilian to do Something Like that, in a moment of crisis, selfpreservation might take over. And some of us will put ourselves in the line of fire and some of us might not. Thats why Arming Teachers is not a solution to this crisis. The solution is taking these kinds of weapons off the street. Of course stephanie the real question here is whether there is the political will to restrict certain gun sales in the state of florida and of course really across the country. At this point, at least in the Florida Legislature, with about eight days left in the legislative session, it does not appear that a bill is going to emerge that can be voted on that would restrict any gun sales at all, stephanie. Thanks, kerry. Allowing teachers who are skilled to carry guns. Lets remember, in 1981, president Ronald Reagan was surrounded by probably some of best marksman alive, extraordinary secret service detail, and he, in fact, was shot. Now lets go to washington where the president has spent days looking at School Safety and gun control. Heres a question. Is he willing to oppose the nra to get something done . We could hear more when he speaks at cpac in about an hour. I want to go to nbcs Kristen Welker. Two days ago, i saw the note card. The families were at the white house and the president said i hear you. When we hear what hes actually looking to do, sounds like hes looking to do what the nra wants. On the one hand, he is, stef. Youre absolutely right. One of the big proposals that the president put forth yesterday and doubled down on it, he talked about it on the campaign trail, is exactly what you and kerry were just talking about this idea of arming some students. Incredibly controversial. The president even going so far though yesterday, stef, as to say that those teachers should be given bonuses who are armed and trained. He made it very clear he wasnt talking about all teachers but, again, some trained teachers to actually carry concealed weapons. That is a point on which he agrees with the nra. Now, he also is breaking with the nra it appears on certain points as well. One of those points would be increasing the age limit for those allowed to carry ar15 weapons. Thats the type of weapon that was used in the shooting and other massacres. Strengthening back ground checks. Again, raising the age to buy guns. Banning bump stocks. He said he was going to put new regulations on bump stocks. That could get challenged in the courts though. Reopening. Getting more federal funding to Mental Health institutions as well as violence ratings for movie and video games and then again that last one arming some teachers. Incredibly controversial. Now, President Trump was pressed yesterday, stef, when he was meeting with state and local Law Enforcement officials about this idea of breaking with the nra. Take a listen to what he had to say. They want to do things. You know, theyre good people. Theyre patriots. They love this country but the nra is ready to do things. So well have to see if the president actually is on the same page with the nra. Theyve been pretty clear they oppose increasing the age to purchase ar15 weapons. Now, President Trump is going to speak a little bit later on this morning at cpac. That conservative conference thats in maryland. I am told hes going to talk about guns. So i anticipate were going to hear more about his proposal to arm certain teachers. Were also, i am told, going to hear about north korea. Mr. Trump expected to make an announcement about that critical Foreign Policy crisis as well. Clearly hes got a lot on his plate. For anyone hoping that this president is going to break with the nra, i want you to listen to some of what we heard yesterday from donald trump and from the nras wayne la pierre jr. We Must Immediately harden our schools. We have to harden our schools. Socalled gunfree zones that are wide open targets. It is such a target for the killer. They look for gun free zones. It should not be easier for a mad man to shoot up a school than a bank. I want my schools protected just like my banks are protected, just like everything else. The National Rifle association originated the National Instant check system. They actually came up with certain of the rules and regulations that we have now. They came up with the rules and regulations. That seems odd, doesnt it . I want to bring in my panel, tim obrien, bloomberg view. Jennifer palmmary, White House Communications director under obama. And brett stevens, oped columnist for the new york times. What do you make of what you heard . Its clear the president s being programmed on this particular topic by the nra because i dont think he had a mind of his own on it. Hes never been a student of policy. Its i think the he understands money though and if teachers are armed in schools that would sell a whole lot of guns. Right, give them a bonus, theyll carry a gun. I think this is one of those examples where the sort of tragic comic path the president follow, the policy positions, have dangerous implications. He hasnt been a student of the gun issue other than to play to his base or play to the nra. Theres good politics for him involved in that decision in terms of getting reelected, in terms of supporting his core base. As a matter of Public Policy, hes ignorant. And the problem here is that hes almost advocating position, about things that he sees in films or on tv. The idea of turning teachers into little rambos who can then protect the students should a shooter appear on a School Campus is ridiculous. Lets remember ft. Hoort. Hood, was a shooting in ft. Hood. A deeply and heavily armed institution. It was not a guns free zone. And a shooting still happened there. The state of israel is surrounded by Hostile Forces and they ban the sale of guns in the state of israel. Its a conservative government there. Theyve done it to great effect. This idea that the problem isnt the proliferation of guns but the ability of people to defend themselves i think is a straw horse. All right, brett. I would disagree with one thing. I lived in israel for a number of things. Many people are almost everyone serves in the army, they know how to use weapons. People do carry do carry guns and they have stopped violence. Its not wrong to say that if wed had a noncroowardly deputyt the school, a police officer, im not talking about teachers, perhaps lives could have been saved, so i dont think its wise to blanketly dismiss it. The political cowardice by the president on display in the video you just showed i think really matches that of the cowardice of the deputy who failed to take action. Because the promise of the Trump Presidency is here was a guy who didnt care. Help w he was willing to blow up one conservative orthodoxy after another. On many of these i disagreed. I was horrified. But his strength was his the ability to just kind of break through that nonsense. And simply say hey, i dont care if the nra seems to have a grip on the gop. Were going to go for a kind of all of the above solution. Were going to have incredibly intrusive background checks. Were going to make it a lot harder to get a gun than it is to drive a car for, you know, just to take one example, youre going to need owneress gun insurance. Did you think this was pipe dream friday . There is a political moment right now. I think what has come out of parkland, and i was skeptical a couple of days ago. What has come out of parkland is this potentially potent as what happened in october with the me too movement. Theres a sense that of a galvanized country in part because these students and their parents have been so magnificent and so outspoken. Its different in that sense absolutely, it is a moment where if the president did something on gun control, even people who detest him would have to say thank you, thank you for doing something. But when it comes down to this idea the president s idea, lets arm teachers, chuck todd threw out a number of questions last night that i thought whos going to answer these, whos going to train them. Where do they get the ammo from. What kind of ammo. Are they going to get paid more money . Where does this money come from . The state of oklahoma or in counties in oklahoma, they not only have a four day a week school week because they cant afford to keep lights on who in gods name is going to pay for this. I think this sis a moment. Outside of passing Affordable Health care act, any change in this country has come from outside congress. That body is dysfunctional. Doesnt work. It doesnt react to the needs of the people. It reacts to republican donors. Thats why theyre not going to do anything serious on guns. The me too movement is real change. Its women across the country standing up to say this isnt right. Now you have students standing up to say were not going to accept this. I lived through new town with president obama. I thought thats what we need, we need the horror of understanding it could even happen to first graders. It could even happen there. Thats whats going to make congress act. That wasnt enough. And i think it took parkland saying its not just can happen here, it is going to happen everywhere. I think students and parents have realized this is it feels inevitable that its going to happen in their school and that is when you have the dam breaks in the country and people rise up to say its not enough. I still dont think congress is going to act. Tim obrien knows President Trump very well. Covered him for a very long time. Hes actually not the deal maker so much as a fighter. He may want this fight. Ultimately real change is going to come because there is an on our side, on left, guns have never been a voting issue and its a voting issue on the right. So republican politicians are very indebted to the nra because of that. Because they know their voters really care about that issue. And now you have passion, real passion, on the side of reform. So ultimately maybe its in 2019 well get there. But right now we have a congress that does not react to the concerns of the public. President trump, who does like to play to his base on this issue, isnt his base even smaller . Ive seen conservative pundits over the last few days and it breaks my heart going after these teenagers. These absurd conspiracy theories. Or saying things like what do you think of disrespectful teenagers going after marco rubio. What i dont understand about that, doesnt President Trump call him little marco, lying ted, crooked hillary . Didnt he say that mitt romney got on his knees and begged and choked like a dog . How can they possibly make these arguments . So what base is President Trump playing to . Well, i think hes because white suburban voters who voted for him, theyre not okay with this. Lets extract even the notion of a base from this. You cant underestimate the force the nra has in these debates. They can influence legislation at the state level. They influence legislation at the federal level. Hes clearly getting his talking points from them. I think i think most of what youve seen with this idea that the students are actors or are sort of paid proponents for the left is in keeping with the arguments that have come out around the russia investigation or fake news. Its playing into this idea that you should doubt what you see. Because what you see isnt believable. Its about the most stark example of something in front of peoples eyes that demands a Public Policy solution that people are trying to avoid. The nra is i think a weaker organization than people realize. The most obvious way of explaining that. Lets say trump abandons them. Where are they going to go . Where does the nra go politically . You just heard you think marco rubios going to aband done ton the nra . No, but the nra has to lasso itself to the Republican Party because youve seen the most partisan nra in history in la pierres speech. Some plutonic idea of a Trump Administration. I know were talking in fantasy. Some kind of running room. To abandon the nra . Most normal americans understand they want some kind of common sense on guns. There is a political opportunity there that simply isnt being exploited. But the nra spent 12 million to help mitt romney. They spent 30 million to help donald trump. The fbi is investigating russian money going into the nra in the 2016 campaign for helping donald trump. And then august of 2016, they started running ads, antihillary ads, the nra, not about guns but about benghazi. What you describe the arguments, thats the arguments the kremlin uses to sow dissension in the united states. Anyone who says these teenagers are actors, they dont know what they talk about. They know a lot about ar15s because one was firing at them a week ago. Even if they arent enough to vote yet, they will be old enough in two or three years and decades and decades after that. Good luck. Any minute now, President Trump will leave the white house to give a speech at a conservative conference one day after the nra spoke strongly about the current gun debate. What sort of tone is the president going to take . But first, the president has suggested that teachers be armed. Up next, im going to be speaking with a teacher and former marine. Hes going to explain why she says it is