Charlize Theron Blasts The Idea Of Arming Teachers As ‘Outrageous’

When a 19-year-old armed with an assault rifle stormed a Florida school and took the lives of 17 people, President Donald Trump suggested that incidents like this could be prevented if teachers carried guns.

“If you had a teacher who was adept with the firearm, they could end the attack very quickly,” Trump declared during a speech last month.

Charlize Theron, however, disagrees with that notion, describing the idea of arming schoolteachers as “outrageous” in a Q&A Saturday at the Global Education and Skills Forum currently underway in Dubai, reports The Independent.

Commenting on the recent school walkout staged by students throughout the U.S. to protest government inaction to introduce gun-control legislation, the 42-year-old mother of two said that she fully supports the students.

“I’m going with the kids on this one. You know, I have a very personal experience with gun violence. I lost my father to gun violence and I just don’t understand when people [are] trying to make the conversation the argument that the fix is more guns,” said Theron.

“It’s so outrageous to me,” she added. “But it also makes complete sense when you look at the policies that are in place and you look at the support and where it’s going, where the finances are coming through… and so people are in bed with each other that should not be in bed with each other. And I think until we kind of clear that up too, we are going to have these issues.”

Theron also shared her opinion of the #MeToo movement. “I am an optimist. I think we all have to be,” she stated. “It’s sometimes hard, and I completely understand that too, but I think that it’s undeniable what’s happening with this women’s movement right now and how incredibly active it is… and for whatever that catalyst was… I don’t care… so long as this conversation continues.”

She added: “I think the numbers of women who have found strength and a voice to be able to speak about what had happened to them, things that they’ve seen, things that they’ve experienced, is just too powerful for this not to cause change. And so, I can definitely tell you in my industry, hands down, people are thinking differently, they’re talking differently, their awareness is at a level it’s never been before, and I just don’t see how we’re going to move backwards from that. We can only move forwards.”