Trump Falsely Claims He’s Made ‘Tremendous Strides’ Battling ‘School Violence’
The White House on Thursday released a “Presidential Message on School Safety,” it’s calling, “Remembering the Parkland Tragedy.” Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the tragic and horrific Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school mass shooting during which 17 lives were stolen.
President Trump last year was criticized for his response to the mass shooting. One day after the 2018 massacre Trump issued a proclamation that did not mention the massacre was a mass shooting, it didn’t mention guns, it didn’t mention how many people died, or how they died.
Echoing his 2018 response, Trump’s response was lacking.
The six-paragraph document, just 572 words, mentions “gun violence” only once, in the last paragraph. That is also the only time the word “gun” is used.
“We have made tremendous strides,” Trump claims, despite the fact that, aside from working to eliminate bump stocks – which were used in the Las Vegas massacre – his administration has taken no steps to control the availability of guns.
Referring to Parkland, The New York Times reports that “in the year since one of the worst school shootings in the United States, nearly 1,200 more children have lost their lives to guns in this country.”
Trump also touted Secretary Betsy DeVos’ Federal Commission on School Safety, which early on was forced to admit guns would not be part of her study.
DeVos took her time to get the Commission up and running. Her first step was to appoint members to the Commission: just four Trump Cabinet Secretaries, with no Democrats, experts, or students.
Read the proclamation here.
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Image by Steven Damron via Flickr and a CC license