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President Donald Trump on Thursday again called for arming qualified teachers as a way to prevent school shootings.

The president first discussed the idea Wednesday afternoon at a meeting with survivors of the Valentine鈥檚 Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 14 students and three teachers. Advocates of such a plan have argued that qualified educators could more quickly respond to a shooting than waiting for police.

鈥淚 want certain highly adept people, people that understand weaponry, guns, if they really have that aptitude, because not everybody has an aptitude for a gun, I think a concealed permit for teachers and letting people know there are people in the building with a gun, you won鈥檛 have, in my opinion, you won鈥檛 have these shootings,鈥� Trump said at a meeting Thursday with state and local officials, according to a press pool report.

The Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents state education secretaries, will establish a working group to address school safety, the group announced Thursday.

鈥淭his work will not be easy. We understand that school safety sits at the intersection of many complicated issues involving mental health, student privacy, resources and gun laws, but as state chiefs we welcome the difficult conversations that will move us forward in making schools safer for every child,鈥� Carissa Moffat Miller, the group鈥檚 interim executive director,

The president also suggested 鈥渁 little bit of a bonus鈥� for educators who carry weapons.

Wednesday he said 20 percent of educators might be qualified to carry weapons at school; Thursday he suggested 10, 20, or 40 percent of teachers might fit the bill. Other than mentioning teachers who might be ex-military, Trump did not specify what those qualifications might be.

The idea has been generally panned by educators.

鈥淭eachers should be marking papers, not being trained in marksmanship,鈥� said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers. 鈥淲e need to be preparing our lessons, not learning how to reload a gun.鈥�

National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen Garc铆a Wednesday said parents and teachers 鈥渙verwhelmingly鈥� oppose arming educators.

鈥淓ducators need to be focused on teaching our students. We need solutions that will keep guns out of the hands of those who want to use them to massacre innocent children and educators. Arming teachers does nothing to prevent that,鈥� she said.

Nate Bowling, Washington鈥檚 2016 Teacher of the Year, the list of things he鈥檇 rather have at school than guns 鈥渋s very long and begins with a well-functioning copier.鈥� Other teachers said they鈥檇 prefer everything from basics like tissues, tape, and paper to more special education teachers and guidance counselors.

Other teachers on Twitter used the hashtag to ask for everything from additional mental health supports for students to more diverse books.

The idea of arming educators , from who would pay for the firearms, to how and where the weapons would be stored during the school day, to what the consequences would be if armed teachers accidentally shoot students.

Trump also said he鈥檇 be willing to provide federal money for training educators.

The administration鈥檚 proposed fiscal 2019 budget asked for cuts to federal school safety grants, including eliminating $25 million in grants to schools where students experience pervasive violence, and asking for no new money for federal grants that help schools that have experienced large-scale violent events, though that grant program has carry-over funds from previous years, .

Trump also expressed distaste for the idea of mandated active shooter drills, raised in the meeting by Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart 鈥� which in some recent cases .

鈥淎ctive shooter drills is a very negative thing… I don鈥檛 like it. I鈥檇 much rather have a hardened school… I think it鈥檚 crazy. I think it鈥檚 very hard on children,鈥� Trump said.

The president said he 鈥渨ouldn鈥檛 want to tell my son that you鈥檙e going to participate in an active shooter drill.鈥� Trump鈥檚 youngest child, 11-year-old Barron, attends a private school in Potomac, Maryland. Maryland to conduct annual drills for practices associated with active shooters 鈥斅爏uch as lockdowns, evacuations, and sheltering in place 鈥斅燽ut those requirements appear to apply only to public schools.

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