President Donald Trump on Tuesday floated the idea of arming grade school teachers who were former "distinguished" military members.
Trump made the comments Tuesday at the White House during his press conference announcing the move of Space Force headquarters to Alabama. His remarks came less than a week after a school shooting in Minnesota killed two children ages 8 and 10.
Trump's comments came in response to a question about whether he would consider sending National Guard troops into schools.
"We have great teachers that love our children. ... If you took a small percentage of those teachers that were in the military, that were distinguished in the military, that were in the National Guard, etc., and you let them carry, that's something that a lot of people like, I sort of liked it," Trump said.
"It'd have to be studied. But they're trained. They know about weapons. You can't do it with every teacher because most teachers don't know. I always thought that would be an alternative," he added.
Military veterans account for about 2% of all K-12 teachers, based on the most recent data. That translates to around 100,000 veterans teaching in U.S. primary and secondary schools.
Prior to last week's shooting, which also injured 21 people, there had been 57 shootings in K-12 schools across the country in 2025, incidents resulting in 15 deaths and 47 people shot, ABC News reported.
Police say Robin Westman, 23, opened fire during morning Mass on the first day of school at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, killing 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski.
Newsmax wires contributed to this report.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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