Child Asks About Gun Control; Sarah Huckabee Sanders Gets Emotional

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, got emotional Wednesday when a child asked what the Trump administration is doing to combat school shootings. A video appears to show her holding back tears as she answers the boy’s question. While her sensitive response drew on her own experience as a parent, she did not give the boy a direct answer about what gun control policies the administration is considering.

Sanders becomes emotional when asked by student reporter what Trump was doing to prevent school shootings: “This administration takes it seriously.” pic.twitter.com/fVYs9I9tRo

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 30, 2018

“I think that as a kid and certainly as a parent, there is nothing that could be more terrifying for a kid to go to school and not feel safe. I’m sorry you feel that way,” Sanders replied to the boy, who described a recent lockdown drill at his school, and said that his and his friends’ mental health has been affected by their fear of a shooter attacking the school.

Sanders told him that a new school safety commission created by the White House will meet this week to discuss “the best ways forward and how we can do every single thing within our power to protect kids in our schools and to make them feel safe and make their parents feel good about dropping them off.”

When asked about school shootings in the past, Sanders has not always offered such a sensitive response.

“The president believes that all Americans deserve to be safe in their schools and their communities,” she said in a January press briefing. “We’ve had two years of increased violence prior to the president taking office. We’ve tried to crack down on crime throughout the country.”

When pressed by a questioner at the January meeting, she added, “The fact that you’re basically accusing the president of being complicit in a school shooting is outrageous.”