The Latest: Trump says guns only for 'gun adept teachers'

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump, guns and school violence (all times local):

7:49 a.m.

President Donald Trump is continuing to talk about the possibility of arming teachers, saying he means concealed weapons for "gun adept teachers with military or special training experience - only the best."

Trump spoke on Twitter Thursday morning. He tweeted: "I never said 'give teachers guns' like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC." Trump says that giving concealed weapons to highly trained teachers would allow them to, in his words, "immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions."

Trump added: "Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this." He says: "ATTACKS WOULD END!"

At a White House listening session on gun violence Wednesday, Trump raised the idea of arming some teachers with concealed weapons.

____

12:11 a.m.

President Donald Trump is pledging to be "very strong on background checks." And he suggests he'd support allowing some teachers and other school employees to carry concealed weapons to be ready for intruders.

Trump listened intently Wednesday to the raw emotion as students and parents appealed to the president to set politics aside and protect America's school children from the scourge of gun violence.

The president had invited the teen survivors of school violence and parents of murdered children in a show of his resolve against gun violence in the wake of last week's shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and in past years at schools in Connecticut and Colorado. The latest episode has prompted a renewed and growing call for stronger gun control.

Trump later tweeted that he would "always remember" the meeting. "So much love in the midst of so much pain. We must not let them down. We must keep our children safe!!"