‘The media love mass shootings’: NRA responds after Florida shooting

Former police commissioner Bill Bratton called President Trump’s proposal to arm teachers “the height of lunacy”, in a blistering series of Tweets Thursday afternoon.

Last week 17 people, mainly teenagers, died when a 19-year-old armed with an assault rifle opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Instead, she insisted that keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill or people with criminal records would keep students safe.

National Rifle Association Executive Director and CEO Wayne LaPierre launched into criticisms of socialists, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the media Thursday, as he defended gun rights from the stage of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). After fending off questions-and death threats after the show-the guns right advocate arrived at CPAC on Thursday morning to a standing ovation.

Robert Runcie, the Broward County school system superintendent, told the audience beforehand that teachers should be armed with better salaries.

Mark Barden, whose son was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in CT, told Trump that his wife, Jackie, a teacher, would say ‘school teachers have more than enough responsibilities right now than to have to have the awesome responsibility of lethal force to take a life.

Loesch was roundly lambasted at the town hall and on social media for various comments she made about gun control, many of which were misleading. “A non-starter in the Senate.”.

Students who survivied the Parkland, Fla., school have created a movement calling for stricter gun control laws.

He heard wrenching first-hand accounts from bereaved parents and friends, and schoolchildren who narrowly escaped with their own lives. They love this country. Rubio replied, “I’m saying that the problems we are facing here today can not be solved by gun laws alone”.

According to a Gallup tracking poll, 60 per cent of Americans now favour tougher gun sale laws.

President Trump on Wednesday floated the idea of increasing the minimum age for buying guns, which the NRA promptly shot down.

Marco Rubio, who has an A+ rating from the NRA, announced he was opposed to arming teachers and was in favor of raising the age limit from 18 to 21 on individuals purchasing semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15.

But in October the NRA issued a statement saying it does not support legislation banning bump stocks.

Wayne LaPierre slammed critics of the gun lobby and accused them of exploiting last week’s school shooting in Florida for political advantage. “For them, it’s not a safety issue, it’s a political issue”.

“They hate the NRA”.

Rubio said he supports the Second Amendment but he also stood for school safety.

“It’s a weird fact that in this country our jewelry stores all over this country are more important than our children, our banks, our airports, our National Basketball Association games, our NFL games, our office buildings, our movie stars, our politicians, they are all more protected than our children at school”, he said. Nearly a year later, shortly after Mitt Romney’s election loss, Trump decided on another major part of his future campaign: his slogan “Make America Great Again”.