Transcript - Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks With Reporters on the South Lawn - February 23, 2018 | Factba.se

Question

00:00:00 - 00:00:03 (4 sec)

[Inaudible] do you not want to see guns in American schools?

Donald Trump

00:00:03 - 00:01:13 (70 sec)

Well, it's a very big subject. It's a subject that everybody is talking about, obviously, for all the wrong reasons. And we're going to do something about it. We're going to make changes. I... I see Congress wanting to act now for the first time. So we certainly have to strengthen background checks. Everybody agrees with that. And we're going to make background checks very very strong. O'll be speaking about that at CPAC. Very very important is to do that. And also, the mentally ill, people that are mentally... they have mental problems, we cannot allow them to have guns. So we're going to be very strong on that. That's going to go a long way. I also believe that schools have to have some form of protection. They can't just be open and gun free. Gun free is an invitation for these crazy people to just come in and shoot. If they're not gun free -- if there are guns inside -- held by the right people, by highly trained professionals, you're going to see this end. It won't be happening anymore. Our schools are essentially gun-free zones, and that makes them very dangerous places.

Question

00:01:13 - 00:01:18 (5 sec)

Donald Trump

00:01:18 - 00:01:18 (1 sec)

Question

00:01:18 - 00:01:25 (6 sec)

The Parkland sheriff was unarmed and he didn't go in. Does that give you pause?

Donald Trump

00:01:25 - 00:01:47 (22 sec)

Deputy Sheriff... Peterson, I guess his name is, I mean they brought it out -- I was surprised. But it deserves to be brought out. What he did, he's trained his whole life. There's an example. But when it came time to get in there and do something, he didn't have the courage or something happened. But he certainly did a poor job. There's no question about that.

Donald Trump

00:01:47 - 00:02:09 (22 sec)

He was there for five minutes. For five minutes. That was during the entire shooting. He heard it right at the beginning. So he certainly did a poor job. But that's a case where somebody was outside, they're trained, they didn't react properly or under pressure or they were a coward. It was a real shock to the police department.

Question

00:02:09 - 00:02:18 (9 sec)

[Inaudible, but about NRA]

Donald Trump

00:02:18 - 00:02:31 (13 sec)

Well, I think we really have a... a group of people that to do the right thing. The NRA is composed of people that I know very well. These are good people. In many cases, great people.

Donald Trump

00:02:31 - 00:02:48 (17 sec)

They're patriots, they love our country. The NRA wants to do the right thing. I've been speaking to them, and they want to do the right thing. Look, I haven't been here that long. This has been going on for a long time, decades, and we're going to get it fixed.

Donald Trump

00:02:48 - 00:03:09 (21 sec)

But the only way you're going to get it fixed is you have to have a certain amount of offensive power within the school. It can't only be defense. You have to have protection within the school. And we're going to work it out. But we are going to be very, very powerful, strong on background checks, especially having to do with people with mental problems.

Donald Trump

00:03:09 - 00:03:24 (15 sec)

This person that did this horrible act, he was mentally deranged and everyone knew it for a long period of time. I guess they had 38 red flags, 39 red flags... you can't do any better than that.

Donald Trump

00:03:24 - 00:03:39 (14 sec)

Unfortunately, they didn't catch it. They should have caught it. This could have been prevented. So the whole mental situation is very big. But, background checks, to me, are very important, and we have to strengthen up our schools.

Donald Trump

00:03:39 - 00:03:43 (4 sec)

I'm going over to CPAC, I'm going to be talking about it. Thank you all very much.