Donald Trump suggests arming teachers after emotional meeting with Florida shooting survivors
Survivors and relatives of victims from the Florida high school massacre have delivered emotional pleas to Donald Trump to protect US schoolchildren from gun violence, in a sit-down session with the President.
While the President largely listened during the meeting, he suggested arming teachers and promised to "do plenty of other things".
Students with quavering voices and parents shaking with anger urged President Trump to "do something" as they demanded change to US gun control, following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School which left 17 students and staff members dead.
In emotional scenes at the White House, the father of one victim yelled "fix it" at the President.
Andrew Pollack, father of slain student Meadow Pollack, told Mr Trump that he would now have to go to the cemetery visit his daughter.
Noting previous school shootings, such as Columbine and Sandy Hook, Mr Pollack said: "It should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it and I'm p*****."
"It's not about gun laws right now. We need our children safe," he said.
The President pledged action during the meeting, saying: "We don't want others to go through the kind of pain you've been through," and suggested arming school staff and training them what to do in similar situations to that of the Valentine's Day shooting.
"If you had a teacher ... who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly,” Mr Trump told the room.
"It's called concealed carrying, where a teacher would have a concealed gun on them," Mr Trump told the room.
"They'd go for special training and they would be there and you would no longer have a gun-free zone."
Mr Trump also promised to be "very strong on background checks," adding that "we're going to do plenty of other things".
One student fought back tears as he faced Mr Trump on Wednesday and asked why it was "that easy" to buy an AR-15, the type of weapon used by gunman Nikolas Cruz.
"I don't understand why I can go into a store and buy a weapon of war," Sam Zeif said.
The President drew criticism for taking notes into the meeting, one of which read: "I hear you".
The meeting comes after hundreds of students marched to Florida's state capital demanding change to gun legislation.
Activists gathered outside the statehouse in Tallahassee where they called on President Trump to ignite change.
Mr Trump also heard messages from the parents of Gina Montalto and Jaime Guttenberg, two 14-year-old girls killed in the Florida attack.
Fred Guttenberg, father of Jamie, called on the president to "publicly acknowledge the role of guns" in violence".
A strong supporter of gun rights and recipient of National Rifle Association (NRA) donations during his presidential campaign, Mr Trump has nonetheless indicated in recent days that he is willing to consider ideas not in keeping with NRA orthodoxy, including age restrictions for buying assault-type weapons.
Following such proposals, the NRA quickly rejected any talk of raising the age for buying long guns to 21.
"Legislative proposals that prevent law-abiding adults aged 18-20 years old from acquiring rifles and shotguns effectively prohibits them for purchasing any firearm, thus depriving them of their constitutional right to self-protection," the group said.