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President Donald Trump on Thursday lashed out at media coverage of his statement that school shootings could be prevented if large numbers of teachers and coaches were armed. “I never said ‘give teachers guns’ like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC,” Trump tweeted. Nevertheless, he quickly reiterated his support for training and arming “the best” 20 percent of teachers to “immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions.”

“If a potential ‘sicko shooter’ knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school,” Trump tweeted. “Cowards won’t go there…problem solved. Must be offensive, defense alone won’t work!”

A day earlier, during a listening session with survivors of the Parkland, Florida, massacre, Trump sparked controversy when he proposed a concealed carry program in which “people of talent” who work in the school and are “very adept at handling a gun” would be trained to neutralize school shooters. “So let’s say you had 20 percent of your teaching force, because that’s pretty much the number,” Trump said. He added: “If you had a teacher with—who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly.”

In a series of tweets Thursday morning, Trump asserted that media outlets were misreporting his remarks.

I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving “concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience – only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

….immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this. Far more assets at much less cost than guards. A “gun free” school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

….History shows that a school shooting lasts, on average, 3 minutes. It takes police & first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to site of crime. Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

….If a potential “sicko shooter” knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won’t go there…problem solved. Must be offensive, defense alone won’t work! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

Trump’s plan to arm teachers has created an intense backlash. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) slammed it as “abhorrent.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) broke with the president Wednesday evening, saying during a CNN townhall event that he did not support arming teachers. “Imagine in the middle of this crisis,” Rubio said. “The SWAT team comes into the building, and there’s an adult with a weapon in their hands. And the SWAT team doesn’t know who is who, and we have an additional tragedy that was unnecessary.”