A task force funded by the National Rifle Association has come up with new plan that ignores Congress' gun control ideas, according to NBC News. The plan's objective is to provide safer schools by arming and training teachers to carry weapons during the school day.
The project is called the National Shield Program and is led by Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman.
"I have not focused on the separate debate in Congress about firearms and how they should be handled," he said.
The NRA has already put $1 million into the program.
The new plan outlined by the task force could be another hindrance to the gun control laws that are attempting to make their way through Congress. The gun debate has increased after the shooting massacre in Newtown Connecticut in December, and the tragedy in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater.
The NRA has opposed all the major points of gun control that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has been pushing. They've voiced strong disagreement with a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines. The pro-gun group has also made its feelings against background checks very public.
Many parents of the victims of the Newtown shootings have publicly supported stricter gun control laws. However Mark Mattioli, whose son James, was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, approves of this new measure to keep schools safer.
"As parents we send our kids off to school, and there are certain expectations and obviously at sandy hook those expectations weren't met," he said. "This is recommendations for solutions. Real solutions that will make our kids safer."
The plan, which spans over 225 pages, does not suggest what weapons should be used. Although, Hutchinson said firearms have as strong as semi-automatic rifles may be incorporated.
The National Shield Program is expected to put a copy of the plan online here.
© 2025 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
