Governor Jay Inslee's message for Donald Trump on guns: 'Less tweeting, more listening'

Washington governor says that teachers have told him they do not like the president's suggestion they should be armed

The Governor of Washington directly challenged Donald Trump’s proposal to arm teachers, telling the President educators had urged against the idea.

“I just think this is a circumstance where we need to listen that educators should educate and they should not be foisted upon this responsibility of packing heat”, Governor Jay Inslee told the President during a White House gathering.

“We need a little less tweeting here and a little more listening, and let’s just take that off the table and move forward,” added Mr Inslee, who is a Democrat.

A massacre of 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has set off a national debate about the best way to protect schools from future shootings. Mr Trump has advocated arming some teachers, saying it would deter potential assailants.

“It would just be a very small group of people that are very gun-adept”, Mr Trump said, adding that “there has to be some form of major retaliation” if attackers are “able to enter a school”.

Mr Inslee pushed back on that idea.

“I have listened to the people who would be affected by that. I have listened to the biology teachers and they don’t want to do that at any percentage”, Mr Inslee said. “I’ve listened to the first grade teachers that don’t want to be pistol-packing first grade teachers. I’ve listened to law enforcement who have said they don’t want to have to train teachers as law enforcement agencies”.

Florida Governor Rick Scott made a similar argument last week as he announced a plan to station armed law enforcement officers in every school. Mr Scott, a Republican, argued against equipping teachers with firearms, indirectly rejecting a proposal advanced by his state’s Republican-controlled legislature.

“Let law enforcement do the keeping us safe and let teachers focus on teaching”, Mr Scott said.