Betsy DeVos Won’t Rule Out Arming Teachers With Assault Weapons – ‘An Issue Best Decided at the Local Level’

Betsy DeVos to Head Trump Commission on Gun Violence in Schools â€“ After Refusing to Talk Gun Violence With Parkland Students

Last week Secretary of Education Betsy DeVosÂ went to Parkland, Florida but refused to discuss gun violence in schools with some of the people most affected by it: the school mass shooting student survivors. Now, she will head President Trump’s commission, announced overnight, to examine ways to protect children from gun violence in schools.Â

Speaking with NBC News’ “TODAY” show, DeVos had few concrete thoughts on guns to share.

Asked why raising the minimum age to buy assault weapons to 21 has been removed from the administration’s plan, despite President Trump having promised to support it, DeVos claimed “everything is on the table.”

And asked about arming teachers and if they should wear their guns openly or conceal them, DeVos refused to answer, deferring, as she often does with any policy, by saying, “this is an issue that is best decided by local communities and by states.”

She even refused to say definitively even if teachers should be armed withÂ assault weapons.

“Do you think they should be able to, teachers, should be able to carry assault weapons since presumably they may face assault weapons? Do you have an opinion on that?” NBC’s Savannah Guthrie asked the Education Secretary.

“I donâ€™t think assault weapons in schools carried by any school personnel is the appropriate thing, but again this is an issue that I think is best decided at the local level by communities and by states.”