2/15/2018

CRISIS/EDUCATION/GUNS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said he planned to convene a meeting of the nation’s governors and state attorneys general in which he would make school safety ‘our top priority,’ in the wake of a school shooting in Florida that left 17 people dead.
The president made no reference to gun laws during a six-minute speech at the White House on Thursday [2-15-18]. Instead, his speech aimed to console those shaken by the latest mass shooting in the U.S. and vowed to ‘tackle the difficult issue of mental health.’
‘It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference—we must actually make that difference,’ Mr. Trump said on Thursday in his first public comments since the shooting a day earlier. Mr. Trump said he planned to visit Parkland, Fla., home to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where Nikolas Cruz, 19, allegedly opened fire, killing 17 people and wounding 14 more…
Directly addressing American children, ‘especially those who feel lost, alone, confused or even scared,’ Mr. Trump said youngsters should turn to family, teachers, law enforcement or faith leaders for help… Mr. Trump traveled to Las Vegas after that shooting, meeting with victims, doctors and first-responders. The White House didn’t immediately have details on his visit to Parkland, about 40 miles south of the president’s Mar-a-Lago property.”

-Michael C. Bender and Julie Bykowicz, “After Florida Shooting, Trump Plans Summit on School Safety,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 15, 2018 02:53pm