A North Carolina state legislator is pushing for teachers to be armed following a deadly mass shooting at a Florida high school.

State Rep. Larry Pittman (R) told fellow lawmakers that he believed “many lives could have been saved” at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., if school officials had guns.

“We have to get over this useless hysteria about guns and allow school personnel to have a chance to defend their lives and those of their students,” Pittman said, according to The Charlotte News and Observer.





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The newspaper also reports that in a comment on another user’s Facebook post, Pittman blamed the Florida shooting on “communist Democrats.”

"So many of these shooters turn out to be communist Democrats, that I suspect they are doing these things to push for gun control so they can more easily take over the country,” Pittman wrote.

The lawmaker posted the comment on a since-deleted post that claimed to include a photo of the Florida shooting suspect, which was later proven to be false.

Pittman’s remarks follow a deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday in which 17 people were killed. The suspected shooter, a former student at the school, was taken into custody following the shooting.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Elizabeth (Betsy) Dee DeVosNEA president says Azar and DeVos should resign over school reopening guidance The Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - You might want to download TikTok now Former DeVos chief of staff joins anti-Trump group MORE made a similar suggestion Thursday that teachers should be armed in order to stop school shootings.

Sen. Chris Murphy Christopher (Chris) Scott MurphyDemocratic senator calls for 'more flexible' medical supply chain to counter pandemics The Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - Don't expect a government check anytime soon GOP chairman to release interim report on Biden probe 'in about a week' MORE (D-Conn.), one of Senate’s leading advocated for gun control, pushed back on the idea, saying there is “zero evidence” it would make schools safer.

“It's a wonderful story for the gun lobby to tell that if you just load up schools with weapons you'll be safer," Murphy said. "All of the evidence suggests that homes and communities that have more weapons have more gun crimes, not less."