Trump on School Shooting: 'I'd Run in There Even if I Didn't Have a Weapon'

President Trump told a roomful of governors on Monday that he would have run into the Parkland, Fla., school during the horrific shooting on February 14, even if he had been unarmed.

Addressing the National Governors Association at the White House, Trump said, “You don’t know until you test it, but I think, I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon and I think most of the people in this room would have done that, too.”

The president renewed his criticism of law enforcement officials who took up positions outside the school rather than enter the building while the massacre was going on. “The way they performed was really a disgrace,” he said. “They really weren’t exactly Medal of Honor winners.”

The president singled out school resource deputy Scot Peterson to the governors, “Look what he did in Broward where he thought he was probably a brave guy, but he wasn’t a brave guy under pressure. He choked and other people choked.”

Seventeen people were killed during the violent rampage by former student Nikolas Cruz. In the wake of the shooting, Trump has proposed a variety of policy changes to help prevent such shootings in the future, including improving background checks for gun purchases; arming teachers and giving them bonuses for carrying at school; re-opening mental institutions; banning “bump stocks” like the one used in the Las Vegas attack; and raising the minimum age for the purchase of certain firearms.

At the event, Trump said there’s “no bigger fan of the Second Amendment than me,” adding that he wants to reexamine the background check issue to ensure that a “sicko” can’t get a gun.

He told the governors that he had met with Wayne LaPierre and other National Rifle Association leaders over the weekend and concluded that they “want to do something” to protect the public.

“Don’t worry about the NRA,” Trump said. “They’re on our side.”

Trump: I would have run into the school with no weapon https://t.co/UZadMQzY34 pic.twitter.com/Jp6BBmA7TV

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 26, 2018