Trump on Florida shooting: 'I'd run in, even without a gun'

United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would have run into the Florida school to save the students from a gunman even without a weapon.

“You know, I really believe -- you don’t know until you test it -- but I really believe I’d run in there, even if I didn’t had a weapon. I think most of the people in this room would have done that, too, because I know most of you. But the way they performed was really a disgrace,” he said during a meeting with governors from across the country at the White House.

He was criticising an armed sheriff’s deputy who did not confront the shooter at the school early this month who killed 17 people, mostly students.

“We have to take steps to harden our schools so that they are less vulnerable to attack. This includes allowing well-trained and certified school personnel to carry concealed firearms. At some point, you need volume. I don’t know that a school is going to be able to hire a hundred security guards that are armed,” he said.

Ridiculing deputy sheriffs on duty at the time of the attack, he said their performance was “disgusting”.

“I got to watch some deputy sheriffs performing this week. And they weren’t exactly Medal of Honour winners,” Trump said.

He said the issue of mental health should be looked into.

“Here is the best example of mental health. This kid had 39 red flags. They should have known. They did know. They didn’t do anything about it. That was really a bad time. Nobody bigger for law enforcement than I am. But between the people that didn’t go into that school and protect those lives, and the fact that this should have been solved long before it happened -- pretty sad,” the US president said.