WATCH Tory MP Bob Stewart says arming US teachers ‘should be considered'
2 min read
Tory backbencher Bob Stewart has suggested that teachers in American high schools may have to be armed in the wake of the latest school shooting in Florida.
The Conservative MP was responding to US President Donald Trump’s proposal to give teaching staff guns so they could protect students in the event of an attack.
The country has been in mourning since an expelled student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida opened fire on former classmates and staff on 14 February, killing 17 people.
In the wake of the tragedy, Mr Trump said: “An attack has lasted, on average, about three minutes. It takes five to eight minutes for responders, for the police to come in, so the attack is over.
“If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly.”
Speaking on RT's Sam Delaney’s News Thing, Mr Stewart said that the measures “should be considered”, as gun control legislation had so far been ineffective at preventing mass shootings.
He said: “[Arming teachers] might be something that should be considered… It’s a thought – it’s up to the Americans to decide how to do it, but time after time after time we’re getting these kids massacred in schools, and they don’t seem to have an answer to it.
“They put guards out there, the guard couldn’t do anything… these lunatics seem to be able to buy guns from stores and then just go in and blast people to Kingdom Come.
“… I don’t like guns, I don’t particularly like the police being armed; but some of them have to be.”
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