Florida sheriff comes out against arming teachers: 'Teachers should teach'

The sheriff of the Florida country where last week’s school shooting took place came out against President Trump’s suggestion of arming teachers, saying that “teachers should teach.”

Broward County Sheriff Steve Israel said during a CNN town hall on Wednesday that he doesn’t agree with the idea.

“I don't believe teachers should be armed. I believe teachers should teach,” Israel said.

“But that's exactly what's wrong with this country. We have people in Washington, D.C., representatives, senators and legislators telling teachers what they should do without asking teachers, what do you want to do?” he continued.

Israel made the comments after CNN’s Jake Tapper asked him about the decision to place armed deputies at schools in the county in the wake of the shooting.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also came out against the idea of arming teachers, saying it has some "practical problems."

Trump had suggested the idea at a listening session at the White House earlier Wednesday with survivors of the Florida high school shooting.

"If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly, and the good thing about a suggestion like that -- and we're going to be looking at it very strongly, and I think a lot of people are going to be opposed to it. I think a lot of people are going to like it. But the good thing is you're going to have a lot of [armed] people with that," the president said.