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The National Rifle Association is encouraging private, state and federal entities to work together to implement recommendations they believe will keep U.S. school safer.
Former congressman Asa Hutchinson presented the recommendations Tuesday in Washington on behalf of the NRA’s National School Shield task force.
“Our whole effort is about school safety. So, the impact I hope we have in this news conference and this report, is that we talk about things that will keep children safer in schools, and that is these types of programs,” he said.
Hutchinson also said the NRA has an assessment program available for schools, including a 40 to 50-hour training program to instruct armed school personnel.
After presenting the recommendations, Mark Mattioli, a parent of one of the children killed in the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school attack, called for everyone to set politics aside to do whatever is needed to protect children in schools.
“This is recommendations for solutions: real solutions that will make our kids safer. And that is what we need,” he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said that now is the country’s best chance to take “common-sense steps” to stop gun violence.
Several Democrats have focused on limiting the types of guns purchased and making sure everyone who buys a gun has a background check. The president said last week 90 percent of Americans support background checks on people who purchase guns to keep them from criminals and the mentally ill.
The gun debate was sparked in December, after a gunman killed 20 children and six teachers at Sandy Hook elementary school before committing suicide.