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Trump: Pulse Massacre Wouldn't Have Happened If People In The Nightclub Had Guns

"If you had one person in that room that could carry a gun and knew how to use it, it wouldn't have happened."

Donald Trump left lawmakers on both sides of the aisle bewildered after a televised meeting on gun control in the wake of the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 28: U.S. President Donald Trump (4th L) speaks as (2nd L-R) Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT), Senate Majority Whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) listen during a meeting with bipartisan members of the Congress at the Cabinet Room of the White House February 28, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Trump held a meeting with lawmakers to discuss school and community safety. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

On the one hand, the president chastised politicians for being "petrified" of NRA and urged them to get tough on gun reform—expanding background checks, blocking interstate concealed-carry laws, and raising the legal age to buy rifles to 21.

On the other, he reiterated his support for arming teachers and reducing "gun-free zones," claiming tragedies like the 2016 Pulse massacre would not have happened if more civilians could access firearms.

"You take Pulse nightclub—if you had one person in that room that could carry a gun and knew how to use it, it wouldn't have happened," he stated, "Or certainly not to the extent it did, where he was just in there shooting, and shooting and shooting and they were just defenseless."

LAURA BUCKMAN/AFP

Mourners light candles during a vigil in Dallas, Texas, on June 12, 2016, for victims of the attack at Orlando's Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida.Fifty people died when a gunman allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group opened fire inside a gay nightclub in Florida, in the worst terror attack on US soil since September 11, 2001. / AFP / Laura Buckman (Photo credit should read LAURA BUCKMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Trump made similar claims on CNN just days after the June 12, 2016, massacre.

"If some of those great people that were in the club that night had guns strapped to their waist or strapped to their ankle, and if the bullets were going in the other direction, aimed at this guy who was just open target practice, you would've had a situation folks, which would have been always horrible, but nothing like the carnage that we all as a people suffered this weekend."

Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images

An aerial view of the mass shooting scene at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)

But with the chaos and confusion that ensued as gunman Omar Mateen opened fire on clubgoers, more gunfire would've likely only added to the number of fatalities. Police officer Adam Gruler was actually in Pulse and armed during the attack, but retreated outside to call for backup when Mateen took hostages.

It's estimated the NRA contributed $21 million to Trump's presidential campaign. In April 2017, he told the organization, "You have a true friend and champion in the White House."

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