NRA's LaPierre calls for armed guards in schools after Newtown shooting

Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice-president of the National Rifle Association, has called for an armed security guard to be placed in every school in America, in a defiant response to the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last week.

With the NRA under more pressure over its hardline position over gun rights than at any time since the Columbine massacre of 1999, LaPierre made no concession to his critics and placed all blame for the Newtown shooting on others – including pro-gun control politicians, the media and health services that failed to apprehend mentally-ill killers. He said that the NRA would produce a plan to create "security shields" around every single school in the country, with armed guards at the entrance.

"The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," LaPierre said. He said that if Adam Lanza, the Newtown gunman, had been confronted by a qualified armed security guard as he began blasting his way into Sandy Hook elementary school last Friday, "isn't it at least possible that 26 little kids might have been spared that day".

In fact, 20 children died in Sandy Hook school, along with six staff members.

LaPierre delivered his comments at a press conference in Washington a week almost to the hour after the Newtown massacre took place. In the wake of the shooting, there have been mounting calls for moves to control guns including a ban on military-style assault weapons, a cap on high-capacity magazine and tightened background checks on private gun sellers.

The NRA chief made no mention of any of those issues, other than to accuse the US media of "misinformation and dishonesty" in its portrayal of gun ownership in the country. His only mention of President Barack Obama, who has called for national action to combat the carnage of mass shootings, was to charge him with removing a federal budget for a "secure our schools" policing programme.

As he spoke, the NRA's executive vice-president was interrupted twice by protesters carrying banners that said "NRA: Killing Our Kids" and "NRA: Blood On Its Hands".

The White House maintained a minute's silence for Newtown that fell coincidentally, or perhaps intentionally, while LaPierre was speaking. The
fierce intransigence of the NRA after the Connecticut tragedy underlines the difficulty that Obama will have in pushing ahead with reforms designed to prevent lethal weapons falling into the hands of potential mass killers.

The NRA has consistently resisted any move towards tightened gun controls after gun rampages over the past 20 years. The group, which has up to 4 million members across the US, has proven to be a formidable legislative adversary, wielding huge power within Congress and spreading fear among politicians who dare to defy it.

The group went head to head with the Clinton administration in the 1990s, and actively campaigned against Obama in 2008 and in last month's presidential election.

In his writings, LaPierre has accused Obama of entering a plot with the UN to eradicate all guns from the US.

In the speech, the NRA chief warned that there were "dozens, maybe more than 100… monsters" already planning the next attack on an unprotected school. The only way to stop another gun rampage, he said, was to put guns in schools.

He said: "If we truly cherish our kids, more than money, more than our celebrities, we must must give them the greatest level of protection possible and the security that is only available with a properly trained – armed – good guy."