WASHINGTON D.C. — WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Rifle Association on Sunday forcefully stuck to its call for placing armed police officers and security guards in every school as the best way to avoid shootings such as the recent massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the largest gun rights lobbying organization, said the NRA would push Congress to pay for more school security guards and would coordinate efforts to put former military and police offers in schools as volunteer guards.
"If it's crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," LaPierre said in a broadcast interview. "I think the American people think it's crazy not to do it. It's the one thing that would keep people safe.
LaPierre also contended that any new efforts by Congress to regulate guns or ammunition would not prevent mass shootings.
His comments on NBC's "Meet the Press" reinforced the position that the NRA took on Friday when it broke its weeklong silence on the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
That stand has described by some lawmakers as tone-deaf.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says LaPierre blames everything but guns for a series of mass shootings in recent years.
"Trying to prevent shootings in schools without talking about guns is like trying to prevent lung cancer without talking about cigarettes," Schumer said.
The NRA plans to develop a school emergency response program that would include volunteers from the group's 4.3 million members to help guard children, and has named former Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., as national director of the program.
Hutchinson said local districts should make decisions about armed guards in schools.
"I've made it clear that it should not be a mandatory law, that every school has this. There should be local choice, but absolutely, I believe that protecting our children with an armed guard who is trained is an important part of the equation," he told ABC's "This Week."
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