An Alabama lawmaker is proposing legislation that would mean teachers could carry guns in schools, following the Florida shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week.
Rep. Will Ainsworth of Guntersville wants a bill to be passed that would allow teachers and administrators to receive both training and authorisation to carry a concealed weapon in their school.
"Our children are sitting ducks in gun-free schools, and as the parent of three public school students, I believe we must act now in order to prevent another tragedy," Ainsworth said in a press release.
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"With roughly two-thirds of the regular session remaining, there is ample time to research, introduce, pass, and enact this much-needed and potentially life-saving legislation."
He felt the need to move forward with the proposal after concerned school officials reached out to him after the recent massacre in Florida, which left 17 dead and inured at least 50 more.
"They wanted to know what we could do to prevent that in Alabama," said Ainsworth, comparing the proposal to undercover air marshalls who are allowed to be armed on commercial aeroplanes to protect passengers.
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He continued: "More gun control will not stop someone who is intent upon inflicting harm in our schools, but someone who is properly trained and armed with the right equipment certainly can.
"It is my hope that passage of this legislation can be fast-tracked once it has been introduced."
However, many other US residents feel that the solution would be to increase gun control - including Jimmy Kimmel, who told Donald Trump he'd done 'worse than nothing' in an emotional plea on his show Jimmy Kimmel Live.
"You still haven't done anything about it, you've literally done nothing. Actually, you've done worse than nothing," he said.
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"You like to say this is a mental health issue, but one of your very first acts as president, Mr Trump, was to actually roll back the regulations that were designed to keep firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill. You did that."
TV sports reporter Dale Hansen also went viral with a rant about gun laws, saying: "If it was a Muslim or a Mexican doing the shootings how much money would we spend then to stop the madness?
"But since it's almost always a white kid there's just nothing we can do. America has five percent of the world's population and yet 31 percent of the world's mass shootings. We're worried about people coming to this country, they should be worried about us coming to theirs."
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A student at the school has also inspired thousands seeking change to American gun laws by giving a rousing speech which is being shared across social media.
Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Douglas, spoke at a gun control rally in Fort Lauderdale urging for people to take change into their own hands.
"If all our government and President can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it's time for victims to be the change that we need to see," she said.
"Since the time of the Founding Fathers and since they added the Second Amendment to the Constitution, our guns have developed at a rate that leaves me dizzy.
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"The guns have changed but our laws have not."
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Florida, Alabama, US Politics, US News, Jimmy Kimmel