White House Outlines Plans for Gun Control, School Safety

President Trump unveiled a school safety plan on Sunday.

• By Sydny Shepard
• Mar 13, 2018

Just three weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the Trump administration has outlined its proposals for gun control and rolled out a new school safety plan.

On Sunday night, President Donald J. Trump proposed providing some school personnel with "rigorous" firearms training and backed a bill to improve criminal background checks on gun buyers, but backpedaled the idea of increasing the minimum age to buy a firearm.

The proposal also includes a plan to establish a commission chaired by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that will recommend policy and funding proposals for school violence prevention, including possible age restrictions on some firearm purchases. The commission does not have a set timeline of when it will report its findings, although an official said it would be within one yet.

"Today we are announcing meaningful actions, steps that can be taken right away to help protect students," Devos said. "Far too often the focus has been only on the most contentious fights, the things that have divided people and sent them into their entrenched corners, but the plan that we're going to advance and talk about is a pragmatic plan to dramatically increase school safety and take steps to do so the right way."

The president also called on Congress to earmark $50 million annually for technology and other programs to prevent school violence. Other proposals include having every state follow Florida's lead in allowing judges to issue "extreme risk protection orders" so police can seize guns and ammunition from people who pose a threat to themselves and others.