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The National Rifle Association has unveiled its recommendations for placing at least one armed guard inside every school campus in the country in proposals that were immediately denounced by gun control advocates as radical and dangerous.
America's most activist gun rights lobby group presented in Washington what it claimed was an "independent" review of school safety standards headed by a former Republican congressman from Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson. The core recommendation of the 225-page report is that school personnel carrying firearms should be placed not only within every school but within every campus in every school.
Hutchinson said that the presence of armed school personnel would cut down the time needed to intercept an active shooter present inside school premises. "One thing you know for sure is that the response time is critical - if you can reduce that response time, if you have the firearm on the presence of someone in the school, it will save lives."
The NRA's school shield report puts flesh on the bone of an idea first raised by Wayne LaPierre, the pugnacious executive vice-president of the lobby group, who made posting armed guards in all schools the centerpiece of his response to the Newtown school shooting in December. His memorable comment on school safety was that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun".
The NRA's new list of recommendations include changing local state and district laws to allow school personnel to carry guns – the report even has appended a model state law that would do so. It calls on federal funding to be used to encourage the take up of armed school guards and their training, which would involve between 40 to 60 hours of induction into the use of weapons – with the NRA offering its services as a training institution.
Hutchinson said that a range of guns could be deployed by the new armed school personnel, from handguns, to shotguns and even AR-15s, the semi-automatic assault rifles of the type used by the Newtown shooter with such devastating effect.
Full Story: NRA unveils plan for armed guards in schools it says 'will save lives' | World news | guardian.co.uk
I definitely think all schools should have at least one person armed, but I have mixed feelings about whether teachers should be able to carry in class. What do you think?