INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—Former President Donald Trump told the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action’s (NRA-ILA) Leadership Forum that it’s time the government prioritized its duty to protect schoolchildren.
“For about $12 billion, we can provide armed security guards at every school in America,” Trump said. “If we can send $120 billion to Ukraine, we can afford one-tenth of that to protect our children.”
Trump addressed the group during the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibitions in Indianapolis.
Trump said schools must have security so tight that people who consider committing such a crime will know they will be confronted immediately.
He said that if he is returned to the White House, he will push for repealing laws that make schools easy targets and implement policies to improve security. This includes tax credits for teachers who agree to be trained and arm themselves. But his work would extend beyond schools, Trump said.
He also promised to call for national reciprocity so each state would honor the concealed carry permits of every other state in the same way that driver’s and marriage licenses are honored. And he would also call for a national concealed carry law.
“Your Second Amendment rights must apply across state lines,” Trump said to applause from the crowd.
Trump promised to appoint an attorney general who would enforce the law and instruct the Justice Department to investigate law enforcement officials who allowed violent criminals to go free.
“The first responsibility of the government is to protect its people,” he said.
The former president heaped criticism on President Joe Biden’s administration. He said the president’s policies are destroying the country, but he promised to stop the destruction.
“I have no doubt that we will, as a group, make America great again,” Trump told the cheering crowd.
Trump said that even amid a pandemic, America was more robust when he left office. He claimed the country is being subjected to a “Marxist revolution.”
“They are doing such a horrible job of running this country which is destroying our country,” Trump said.
According to Trump, Democrats have made many of America’s greatest cities more dangerous. He said violent crime is a problem that must be addressed head-on.
He promised to secure the border, support law enforcement, and defend the Second Amendment. The former president drew cheers when he said he would rein in agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and make them focus on threats posed by criminals instead of nitpicking paperwork errors by federal firearms license holders.
He had especially bitter criticism of Biden’s foreign policy.
He said Biden’s first foreign policy blunder was the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.
That move resulted in the deaths of 13 service members and America leaving $85 million worth of military hardware for the Taliban.
Since then, China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran have entered into agreements with European and Middle Eastern countries that had been American allies. At the same time, the American dollar, the world’s standard currency, is dropping out of favor.
“That would have been unthinkable two years ago,” Trump said.
Trump said Russia would not have invaded Ukraine and that no one discussed using nuclear weapons before Biden took office.
The Most Dangerous Time
“I believe this is the most dangerous time in the history of our country,” Trump told the crowd.
Still, Trump said the situation could be turned around.
He promised to reintroduce policies to respect and preserve American rights while rebuilding the country’s stature on the world stage. He said polls show this is what Americans want and that the recent indictment and investigations by Democrat prosecutors are proof he can win. He told the group that he was not the Democrats’ real target.
“They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you, and I’m in the way,” Trump said.
He told the NRA members that things would change if he were sent back to the White House.
“I will lead the great rebirth of American freedom,” Trump said.
