The Broward County Sheriff held a press conference on Wednesday where he told reporters that trained deputies will now carry AR-15 rifles on campuses, following the deadly school shooting that happened on Thursday in Parkland, Florida.

The decision was implemented on Wednesday morning.

Shooter Nikolas Cruz, 19, admitted to shooting and murdering 17 people, and injuring 15 others, at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School on Valentine's Day.

When the Sheriff was asked about whether a motive behind the shooting had been determined, Israel replied, 'Pure evil, pure evil.'

Mostly discussing ways he'd make students safer moving forward, Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters that we need better gun control, and not everyone in America should be allowed to own a firearm.

'We're at a point in American history where if we're gonna be safe, it's up to the law makers,' he added at the press conference.

For his part, Sheriff Israel said his deputies who are qualified and trained will now be carrying rifles on school grounds, and some will be carrying AR-15s.

Scroll down for video

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel held a press conference on Wednesday to provide updates into their investigation into the deadly school shooting that happened on Thursday in Parkland, Florida

When the rifle is not actually on a deputy's person, it will be stored and locked in a police vehicle, and in no other location, he said.

'We need to be able to defeat any threat that comes on to campus,' he said.

Israel was careful to point out that AR-15 does not stand for 'automatic rifle,' as many people think. AR-15s are named after the company that created the weapon in the 1950s, called ArmaLite. The 'AR' portion of the name, therefore, stands for 'ArmaLite rifle.'

Israel explained that the rifles to be carried by his trained deputies will be semi-automatic, meaning they will allow law enforcement to shoot one bullet per each trigger pull, without having to do anything to prepare the gun to shoot the next bullet.

Semi-automatic means that once a bullet is fired, another is automatically reloaded, as long as there are still bullets remaining in the magazine.

The difference between a semi-automatic and a fully automatic weapon is that if you hold down the trigger on a fully automatic weapon, it will continue to fire multiple bullets, without stopping, until the ammunition cartridge, or magazine, has been emptied.

He added: 'Laws have to be changed, we can't do the same-old, same-old.'

'I'm not a lawmaker, I can only enforce the laws on the books, but things needs to be changed in America,' he said.

'And I'm gonna use my voice and my platform in the Broward County Sheriff's Office to try and get that accomplished.'

'Even if these things don't work out, so what?' the Sheriff asked, rhetorically. His message was that trying is better than doing nothing, and continuing to throw around language about 'having conversations' without taking action.

Shooter Nikolas Cruz, 19, admitted to shooting and murdering 17 people, and injuring 15 others, at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School on Valentine's Day

Beyond that, the Sheriff discussed his opinions on other ways to better secure schools during the press conference.

'It's a three-pronged approach,' he said. 'I think schools as soft targets need to be fortified. We need to look at how many school resources deputes are being employed at each school. I think the cities and I need to look at that.'

'Certainly every school in the nation should have a school resource deputy, there should be no school that doesn't have at least one,' the Sheriff added, when asked to elaborate on the point.

He continued: 'There are things like CPTED, which is Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.

'I think we could build schools differently, or even with schools that are already built, look at how environmentally we can build things that could protect an egress, an escape route.

'We also need to talk about sensible gun control. There are certain people in this country who shouldn't be allowed to ever have a gun.'

The Sheriff also said that the Baker Act should be expanded, which is the law that allows law enforcement to take individuals into custody, involuntarily, if they are thought to be an imminent threat to themselves or others

Sheriff Israel said his deputies who are qualified and trained will now be carrying rifles on school grounds, and some will be carrying AR-15s (stock image)

The Sheriff also said that the Baker Act should be expanded, which is the law that allows law enforcement to take individuals into custody, involuntarily, if they are thought to be an imminent threat to themselves or others.

He referenced how that would change how officers can deal with people who post things on social media that are of a violent or threatening nature.

'They may not be an immediate threat to themselves or someone else,' he said, 'but if they are at threat or their language is threatening, if they talk about "I want to grow up and be a killer," if they have graphic pictures of blood and gore, and we have through a totality of evidence, a belief that this person needs to be examined by a medical professional, we need to be able to take that person and involuntarily Baker Act them.'

He also added that when a person leaves a mental facility after such an evaluation, they should not be given back any weapons they might own.

They should, instead, be considered to be in a state of rehabilitation, similar to that of people who are recovering from physical injuries and don't immediately return to their previous, everyday lifestyle, he said.

'For people who suffer from mental illness, my heart goes out to them,' Sheriff Israel said.

'I want to see people heal, of course, but when people have just undergone a psychiatric evaluation and we're worried about their mental health, these people need to be away from guns, until they are evaluated, maybe years down the road.'

Regarding his recommendations, the Sheriff said he would be meeting with city officials to try to get these things implemented.

The Sheriff reiterated during the press conference that School Resource Officer and Sheriff's Deputy Scot Peterson was on campus at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School on Thursday, and armed, at the time of the attack.

But the campus spans 45 acres and he was not located where the shooter carried out the tragic massacre. The SRO did not discharge his weapon, Israel said.

Peterson's actions, as well as the actions of all deputies involved, will be scrutinized, Israel said. 'This is a fluid investigation,' the Sheriff said.

He added that Peterson had the tools and training necessary, should an opportunity have presented himself to contain the shooter.

He said their training and policies are clear that in an active shooter situation in a school, law enforcement are supposed to 'push towards the shooter' and 'contain the threat.'

The Sheriff said his office would be sure to follow up with answers to any questions he wasn't able to provide on Wednesday.

In response to theories that have surfaced on the internet in the days after the attack that student victims who have come forward are actors, Sheriff Scott Israel said that made no sense.

'To anybody who would say that these are actors and these weren't real students, it defies logic and comprehension,' Sheriff Scott Israel said.