Trump: Kids Returning To School Afraid Of Gun Violence Have 'Nothing To Fear'

After most recent shootings, Trump tells kids headed back to school to study hard, there’s nothing to fear

Following the most recent shootings that left 31 people dead last weekend, President Trump assured kids heading back to school that they have “nothing to worry about.”

The president made his comments on Friday while speaking to reporters outside the White House before leaving Washington D.C. for two fundraisers and a vacation at his New Jersey Golf Course.

When CNN reporter, Daniel Dale, asked the president what he would tell kids who may be nervous about the possibility of a school shooting is, he was clear that he would tell them simply not to worry.

“My message to children going back to school is go and really study hard and someday you’ll grow up and maybe be President of the United States or do something else that’s fantastic. They have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about,” Trump said.

There were 24 school shootings in 2018 with 35 people killed and 79 injured and 14 school shootings occurred from January through May 2019, with two people killed and 24 injured. But when it comes to mass shootings in general, they numbers are sky-high. There have been 254 mass shootings already in 2019.

It goes without saying that that number is way, way too big. And when it comes to back to school time, it’s all pretty anxiety-inducing.

As parents try to wrap their heads around sending their kids back to the classroom in light of all the recent violence, Twitter had some thoughts on the president’s comments.

While in the past week, there’s been a public outcry for gun control, once again, the president avoided specific plans for gun control measures and touted only the need for background checks to prevent “sick and demented people” from purchasing guns. It’s a message he’s repeated again and again over the past week in his nationally televised appearance and on Twitter.

“You have to remember, and I’ve said it, it’s a big mental illness problem,” Trump said. “The gun doesn’t pull the trigger––the mind, a sick mind, pulls the trigger. So we want to take that out of the equation,” he said on Friday.

While no one wants kids heading back to school to be overwhelmed with anxiety about being shot to death at their desk, it’s a bit hard for anyone not to worry about shootings in this climate, when they are in the news constantly. At this point, so many kids have been exposed to shootings, know someone who has been personally affected, or have, ya know, turned on the news or glimpsed their social media.

The high rates of shootings have the public on high alert and with good reason. Other countries have already issued travel warnings about coming to the U.S. Bulletproof backpacks are selling out in droves. And kids, even the youngest learners, have to get used to (or traumatized by) active shooter drills.

It’s a bit of a rough time to tell kids, as well as their constant-stream-of-horrible-news-absorbed parents not to worry. Because the fact is, shootings are on just about everyone’s mind. Whether we want to face the facts or not, there are going to be more unless our leaders take action.

For the sake of our children, it can’t come soon enough.