"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun! I call on congress today to take any means necessary to immediately put armed security into every school in the nation," said NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre.
It was a sharp message from the National Rifle Association during a news conference in wake of the Connecticut shootings that claimed the lives of 26 children and school staff.
"I feel like it would be a good idea because the times have changed. I think we really need extra protection for our children. I mean they put armed guards in airplanes after 9/11 so what's the difference in airplane passengers and in the lives of our children?" said Michelle Couch.
LaPierre steered the blame away from guns or gun laws and instead accused Washington of rank hypocrisy for relying on armed guards to protect the President and Congress, while calling such actions inappropriate elsewhere.
"In the school they know it's for their protection because the teachers are trying to teach and their jobs expand to another level, another situation when they have to teach and be on alert for people breaking in being ready to shoot up a school," said Ebony Masoe.
The NRA is promoting a plan to recruit and train volunteers as part of what they call the National School Safety Shield Program. Banner-waving protestors interrupted twice and were removed by security.
"Children know that they come to school to get knowledged, to be trained and taught; they have never looked upon a teacher or a school as a place where you would encounter police officers and weapons and murders and that kind of thing, so that just belongs somewhere else," said Memphis Education Association President Keith Williams.
