President Donald Trump lobbied for increased school security measures, including armed staff, in a meeting with congressional lawmakers from both parties at the White House on Wednesday.
Democrats and Republicans pitched their own proposals to the president, from restricting access to rifles like the AR-15鈥攁n idea Trump repeatedly said he supports despite the National Rifle Association鈥檚 opposition鈥攖o comprehensive background checks and trying to keep firearms out of the hands of the mental ill, as well as countering the influence of violent video games and movies.
During the meeting, Trump also pressed lawmakers to come together and write one major bill dealing with school safety and gun access. Such a legislative coup will be difficult to pull off, however, given the failure of past attempts to deal with those issues, including the Obama administration鈥檚 proposals after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. Trump repeatedly noted how past presidents have failed to solve the issue.
The president has hosted a few meetings on guns and school violence since the shooting deaths of 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14.
鈥淲e must harden our schools against attack,鈥� Trump said at the Wednesday meeting. However, he went on to say that he doesn鈥檛 want schools to add too much security because, 鈥淚f the shooter鈥檚 inside, he gets inside and closes the door, we can鈥檛 get people in.鈥� (You can watch video of the meeting above.)
Earlier Wednesday, .
Trump also praised the Texas 鈥渟chool marshal鈥� program in which some authorized school employees can carry guns, but also said, 鈥淪ome states are going to do what Texas does. And some states don鈥檛 want that program.鈥� .
Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., who represents Parkland, said on the question of whether arming teachers is a solution, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it is. Many others don鈥檛.鈥� And Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said that it was important to think about school safety issues like bullet-proof glass.
Vice President Mike Pence, Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., and others also pushed to make it easier to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill through things like court orders. Lawmakers including Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also stressed that multiple government agencies were told about alleged Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz鈥檚 danger to the public but failed to stop him.
There鈥檚 at least one bipartisan bill already in Congress designed to make it easier for students and teachers to report potentially dangerous behavior and to address related issues, the STOP School Violence Act. , but they don鈥檛 deal with controversial issues like gun control.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, also said they thought violent video games and movies played a role in incidents like in Parkland, although there鈥檚 no public evidence so far that Nikolas Cruz was particularly fond of either. Trump agreed, saying that sometimes he saw what his son Barron watched and wondered, ""How is that possible?鈥� He also mused that perhaps movies should perhaps be rated for 鈥渢error.鈥�
Ultimately, a lot of the action on these issues occurs at the state level. Check out our tracker of state legislation on school safety in the year after the Sandy Hook murders.
Trump has held a similar public meeting with key lawmakers on another issue related to education: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. But despite multiple attempts by federal lawmakers to codify DACA while making other changes to the immigration system and border security, Trump鈥檚 declaration that he wanted a 鈥渂ill of love鈥� and he came out against a few bipartisan proposals.