STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): So the president -- it will be interesting to see what the president does say about school safety because he and the NRA are apparently on two different pages because the president has called for hardening our schools. He's also called to up the age where you can buy one of those guns.
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Ban the bump stocks.
DOOCY: And expand background checks. And the NRA has staunchly been against raising the age --
PETE HEGSETH (CO-HOST): Yup.
DOOCY: And also background checks. So what's going to happen? Maybe the president will lay his hand out.
HEGSETH: He may clarify because -- and back to CPAC. Vice President Pence was right to say it's been the most consequential year for conservatives in our lifetime. So many things have gotten done. We'll see what the president will talk more about what he's gotten done. But guns, there's a lot of gray area because the president says there is no wiggle room between him and the NRA. He's talked to them multiple times. Sometimes things are floated early on, like raising the long gun age to 21. What do you actually do with background checks? What does “hardening a school” mean? Does that mean a guy with a gun outside the front door or does it mean, as the president has suggested, the teachers could carry concealed as well in the classroom? A lot of gray area.
EARHARDT: And giving them bonuses if they do that. My sister's a teacher in South Carolina. It's giving teachers the option, you get a bonus. My sister doesn't get paid -- gosh, they don't get paid enough.
HEGSETH: Yeah, teachers don't get paid much.
EARHARDT: They really don't. And living paycheck to paycheck, that's what our teachers are doing. This gives them an opportunity, if they feel comfortable, concealing and carrying --
DOOCY: Right.
EARHARDT: -- then they can get a bonus.
HEGSETH: After training and background. All of those things.
EARHARDT: Absolutely.
DOOCY: And that's just one of the ideas being floated. Remember, this is -- the president's in the listening stage right now. He's taking it all in. Yesterday at a security meeting at the White House, he suggested that our schools should be guarded like banks, which is absolutely true.
EARHARDT: Yeah, and then the NRA spokesperson, or president, he said -- LaPierre, Wayne LaPierre -- he said we should, if we're going to guard our banks, then we should at least guard our children. If we're going to give police officers -- I mean, if you're going to give politicians police officers to guard them, shouldn't would we be guarding our schools?
