WASHINGTON — The National Rifle Association on Friday called for schools to be protected by armed guards as the best way to protect children from gun violence.
The proposal from the pro-gun lobbying group, long the most vocal and influential organization generally opposing stricter regulation of firearms, came during the N.R.A.'s first organized media event after the deadly shootings in Newtown, Conn. The group also called for steps other than gun control, including cracking down on criminals and fighting violence in the media and on video games.
Wayne LaPierre, the group’s executive vice president, read a statement to reporters but did not take questions, and ignored outbursts from protesters who interrupted him.
But it was the vehement insistence that the single best line of defense was to put armed guards in schools — and the absence of any openness to various suggestions for new gun control measures — that dominated the event at a downtown hotel not far from the White House.
Mr. LaPierre said this should be done right away, with the details left to the discretion of local schools. The N.R.A. would provide a template or model program after consulting with security experts.
“The only way — the only way — to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection,” Mr. LaPierre said. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Gun-free school zones identified by signs, he said, serve only to “tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to effect maximum mayhem with minimum risk.”
“So why is the idea of a gun good when it’s used to protect the president of our country or our police but bad when it’s used to protect our children in our schools?” he continued. “They’re our kids. They’re our responsibility. And it’s not just our duty to protect them; it’s our right to protect them.”
Criticism of the group's proposals came quickly. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, released a statement shortly after the event ended, calling the N.R.A.'s ideas “beyond belief.”
“It is beyond belief that following the Newtown tragedy, the National Rifle Association’s leaders wants to fill our communities with guns and arm more Americans," he said in a statement. "The N.R.A. points the finger of blame everywhere and anywhere it can, but they cannot escape the devastating effects of their reckless comments and irresponsible lobbying tactics.”
“Everyone agrees our schools, movie theaters shopping malls, streets and communities need to be safer,” Representative Mike Thompson, Democrat of California, said in a statement. “But we need a comprehensive approach that goes beyond just arming more people with more guns to make this happen.”
At the event, it was announced that the group named Asa Hutchinson, a former congressman and law enforcement official, to lead a task force financed by the N.R.A., charging him with devising a model program including what he described as “armed, trained, qualified school security personnel” — perhaps local volunteers.
During the event, which was broadcast live on multiple cable channels and streamed online, protesters repeatedly interrupted, raised a banner saying “NRA killing our children” and shouting similar messages, such as “N.R.A. has blood on its hands” and “ban assault weapons now.”
In the days immediately after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the N.R.A. had remained largely silent as pressure mounted for stricter regulations of guns and other measures to confront violence.
On Tuesday, it scheduled the news conference, saying that it was “prepared to offer meaningful contributions to make sure this never happens again.” But it offered no specifics.
At times, Mr. LaPierre’s presentation was at times confrontational in tone.
“You know, five years ago, after the Virginia Tech tragedy, when I said we should put armed security in every school, the media called me crazy,” he said. “But what if, what if when Adam Lanza started shooting his way in the Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday, he’d been confronted by qualified armed security? Will you at least admit it’s possible that 26 little kids -- that 26 innocent lives might have been spared that day?”
The authorities say that Mr. Lanza, after killing his mother, killed 20 children and 6 adults at the school before taking his own life.
The N.R.A. has about four million members, and exerts its influence on lawmakers through campaign contributions and by rating their votes on gun-related legislation.
According to polling data released on Thursday by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, public attitudes about gun control have shifted only modestly since the Newtown shootings. “Currently, 49 percent say it is more important to control gun ownership, while 42 percent say it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns,” the center said. Five months ago, opinion was almost evenly divided on these questions; four years ago, a majority said they favored stricter gun control.
On its Web site, the N.R.A. cites other polling, by Gallup. “Americans are most likely to say that an increased police presence at schools, increased government spending on mental health screening and treatment, and decreased depiction of gun violence in entertainment venues would be effective in preventing mass shootings at schools,” it says. “Americans rate the potential effectiveness of a ban on assault and semiautomatic guns as fourth on a list of six actions Gallup asked about.”
