U.S. President Donald Trump spoke at length on Thursday about school safety, advocating arming teachers with guns to thwart campus shootings.
"Unless we have an offensive capability, it's going to happen again and again," Trump said, calling the option a "great deterrent."
Earlier in the meeting, he suggested that up to 40 percent of classrooms could see teachers qualified in shooting guns and that such instructors would get a "little bit of a bonus" for gaining certification.
When Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart suggested increasing the number of active-shooter drills as a defensive measure, Trump called that crazy, explaining, "I think it's very hard on children."
Thursday's meeting followed an emotional and lengthy encounter with students, parents and teachers affected by last week's high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which a former student is accused of killing 17 people.
Trump also suggested popular culture could be a contributing factor for such violence.
"I'm hearing more and more people say the level of violence in video games is really shaping young people's thoughts," Trump said. "And then you go the further step, and that's the movies."
Trump, who enjoyed strong support during his 2016 election campaign from the National Rifle Association (NRA), which claims 5 million members, said he had spoken with NRA officials during the past two days and that the organization is "ready to do things."
The president, however, clearly indicated he does not intend to battle the powerful organization, which gave more than $11 million to the Trump campaign in 2016.
"I don't think I'll be going up against them," Trump said.
In the wake of last week's school shooting, some victims and gun rights activists have called for a ban on semiautomatic rifles.
Deputy press secretary Raj Shah said that the Trump administration is seeking "solutions that don't ban a class of firearms for all individuals, but ban all weapons for certain individuals who are identified as threats to public safety."