White House: Trump sees active shooter drills as a bad ‘brand’

While President Trump supports active shooter drills in schools, he dislikes the name because he sees it as a bad brand that scares children, the White House said Thursday.

“[Trump] said the term active shooter drill could be frightening for young children,” White House spokesman Raj Shah said at the daily briefing. “I think a drill that’s, you know that has a different name …[so] the brand of it … doesn’t frighten children might be a better way to approach it.”

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“I think safety drills which help in these types of situations would be more appropriate,” Shah said. “The term active shooter drill for a young child could be very frightening.” 

Trump earlier on Thursday said that he believes “active shooter drills” are “a negative thing.” He also described “active shooter drills” as a defensive, rather than offensive measure during a listening session with state and local officials.

The president made the case that teachers and school officials with proper training should be armed to fight back against potential gunmen.