Former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), director of the National Rifle Association’s post-Newtown “School Sheild” program, thanked President Obama on Thursday for including money that can potentially be used to hire armed guards at schools in his gun violence prevention package. But he said that Obama’s plan — which allows disctricts to use funds for armed police officers or improved mental health services — isn’t good enough.
The NRA’s School Shield program will train school staff and volunteers to serve as armed protection for schools. In a video posted to the program’s website Thursday, Hutchinson promised School Shield guidelines by April 1.
“I’m very pleased that he did include and recognize the historic role that armed, trained professionals play in protecting our school children,” Hutchinson said of Obama’s proposals in the video. “I’m also concerned that some of his proposals do not meet the standards of the Second Amendment, and I’m confident that those are going to be rejected by Congress.”
“[Obama] did recognize the importance of our school resource officers and his plan really to put billions of dollars into new resources for our schools is well received, except I don’t believe it’s the best plan because I’m afraid many of those resources will not actually get to the schools but that will be diverted,” Hutchinson said. “What we want to look at is using federal dollars for better training programs and the resources being provided more by our state and local communities.”
