Trump doubles down on arming teachers: ‘The bad guys love gun-free zones’

President Trump on Saturday doubled down on his position that teachers should be armed to protect students, saying in a Fox News interview that “gun-free” zones only serve to help attackers.

In an interview on Fox’s “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” Trump told host Jeanine Pirro that “a gun-free zone is like target practice” for mass shooters like the one who attacked a high school last week in Parkland, Fla., leaving 17 people dead.

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“If they go into a school, a gun-free zone is like target practice for these guys. They see that and that’s what they want. Gun-free zones are very dangerous. The bad guys love gun-free zones, Jeanine,” Trump said.

The president went on to add that Nikolas Cruz, the suspect in the Parkland shooting, would never have entered the building if he believed armed teachers were waiting to return fire.

“He would never have run into the building if he thought bullets were going to come flying back into him,” Trump said.

“He left the building pretending he was a student. He didn’t want to get shot. If he thought there were people who could defend offensively that you could have some offensive power in there, he would have never ever gone into that school building,” the president added.

The president floated the idea of arming teachers during a “listening session” in the White House this week with survivors of the Parkland shooting and the parents of victims. Trump told attendees that his administration was also looking at strengthening background check laws and raising age requirements on rifle purchases.

“If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, that could very well end the attack very quickly,” Trump said earlier this week. “We’re going to be looking at that very strongly. And I think a lot of people are going to be opposed to it. I think a lot of people are going to like it.”

“We’re going to be very strong on background checks,” he added. “There are many ideas I have, there are many ideas that other people have, and we’re going to pick out the strongest ideas, the most important ideas.

“It’s not going to be talk like it has been in the past.”

Trump again said he is considering age limits on purchasing some guns during his Fox News interview on Saturday.