Florida university where staff have guns viewed as template for arming teachers

• Video report by Washington Correspondent Robert Moore

Following the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School which left 17 students and staff dead, Donald Trump has repeated calls to arm school staff.

The President has argued that if some staff carried concealed weapons, it would make schools a "much harder target for attackers".

A Florida university has been viewed as a possible template for teachers who could potentially double up as armed guards.

Chris Owen is a teacher and college administrator at Southeaster University. He also carries a concealed weapon when on campus.

He believes there are many other teachers in the US who are ready to follow his lead: "You have people on campuses who say: 'I am ready, willing and able to step in, in the moment of an active shooter if you'll just train me'.

"I think you'll hear those voices rise in the weeks and months to come."

President of Southeaster University, Dr Kent Ingle argues that in the case of a campus shooting, every second counts.

"It takes five to seven minutes for law enforcement to get here, by then, most of the time that rampage is over, and when an active killer comes on campus and they start spraying bullets, you don't have time to wait and waste."

While the Sentinel programme has broad support at Southeastern, across America the debate is raging about how best to protect students with survivors of the massacre leading the conversation.

Ashley Kurth hid her students in a corner of her classroom during the Valentine's Day attack, but believes that arming teachers is an absurd idea which does not recognise the chaos and terror she faced.

"You haven't had an AR-15 spraying bullets at uou while you're trying to protect children, the only way I can physically compare it is it's like being in a warzone."

She also questioned whether all trainee teachers would be made to undergo gun training in order to be able to qualify as a teacher.

"Where you have civilians that you're trying to protect and at the same time, we're not military, we're not law enforcement, this is not a part of our everyday training, so are we just going to require you go to law enforcement training and then you can get your teaching degree?

"Is that what it's going to be now?"

As America looks for answers on how to combat the epidemic of school shootings, arming teachers remains a highly contentious issue.