Trump's suggestion US teachers carry concealed guns is 'a terrible idea', says Florida shooting survivor

'That is not even a possibility in my mind', says teen. 'Teachers are meant to be educators'

Donald Trump‘s suggestion that teachers be armed with concealed guns is a “terrible idea”, a survivor of last week’s Florida school shooting has said.

The US President told a meeting of students and parents of victims that he would look “very strongly” at the proposal because “if you had a teacher who was adept with the firearm, they could end the attack very quickly”.

“Special training” would be required, he said.

But Alfonso Calderon, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, said it was “not what we stand for”.

He told CNN: “I don’t know if Donald Trump has ever been to a public high school, but as far as I’m aware, teachers are meant to be educators.

“We stand for small policy changes and maybe possibly big ones in the future. Because, right now, I am pretty sick of having to talk about teachers being armed.

“Because that is not even a possibility in my mind. I would never want to see my teachers have to do that and neither do they want to do that.”

During Wednesday’s listening session Mr Trump suggested that had Aaron Feis, the football coach praised for shielding students from flying bullets, been carrying a gun of his own, ”he would have shot [back] and that would have been the end of it”.

The Republican’s enthusiasm for arming teachers put him at odds with his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, who last week refused to be drawn on whether she personally believed it was a good idea.

Instead, she said individual states “clearly have the opportunity and the option to do that” and that it was a question for local communities to “wrestle with”.

Mr Trump subsequently tweeted that he had been referring to teachers who had received military or 'special training'.

As well as Florida, discussions on the issue have taken place in Kentucky, Colorado, North Carolina and Alabama in recent days, while Wisconsin’s attorney general said he was open to the idea.

Eight states allow, or do not specifically prohibit, concealed weapons in schools catering for pupils from kindergarten to Grade 12, according to the Giffords Law Centre to Prevent Gun Violence.

Additional reporting by agencies