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JUDY WOODRUFF:With Congress poised to take up gun control legislation in the coming days, the National Rifle Association battled back today, as it tried to shift attention to a different set of proposals. They include calls for arming trained personnel in every public U.S. school.
The NRA turned to former Republican Congressman Asa Hutchinson to chair what it calls the National School Shield Task Force. He laid out the centerpiece of its 225-page study in Washington.
ASA HUTCHINSON, Former Undersecretary for Homeland Security: If you are interested in making our schools safer and to save children's lives, look at these recommendations seriously, and this—the presence of an armed security in a school is a layer that is just as important as the mental health component.
JUDY WOODRUFF:Aimed at reducing violent crimes on school grounds, it is the NRA's latest push in the gun control debate. The report includes proposals for revised state laws to allow trained personnel to carry firearms on school grounds, training for designated school personnel to handle active shooting incidents, and mental health pilot programs to reduce bullying and identify potential threats.
This review comes as Congress continues to pursue gun control legislation. The Republican-led House has not yet taken up bills in the almost two months since President Obama made this issue a priority at his State of the Union address.
But, today, Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings highlighted one area where he said Congress should act.
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS,D-Md.: Most Americans already think gun trafficking is a federal crime. I have news for you. It's not. They have no idea that there is no federal law targeting firearm traffickers who commonly use straw purchasers to buy guns for convicted felons and other dangerous criminals who cannot legally buy guns on their own.
JUDY WOODRUFF:Scrutiny of such purchases has renewed calls for universal background checks. Recent polling shows nearly nine in 10 Americans support near-universal background checks on all gun purchases.
Calls for expansion of background checks and new penalties for gun trafficking has stymied action in the Senate. New legislation is expected on the floor when senators return from recess next week. It won't include bans on assault weapons and on high-capacity ammunition magazines.
And five Republican senators, including Florida's Marco Rubio, had vowed to filibuster any new gun restriction. Still, some state legislatures have already taken action on their own. After weeks of negotiation, Connecticut legislators agreed on a package yesterday, among the most far-reaching in the country, including universal background checks for all gun sales and bans on new high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Yesterday, leaders from both parties hailed the agreement.
STATE REP. BRENDAN SHARKEY, D-Conn.: It's also critical that we send a message to Washington and to the rest of this country that this is the way to get this job done.
STATE SEN. JOHN MCKINNEY, R-Conn.: At the end of the day, I think it's a package that a majority of people in Connecticut will be proud when we vote on Wednesday.
JUDY WOODRUFF:The bill is expected to pass both houses of the state General Assembly tomorrow.
The president returns to Colorado tomorrow to press his gun control proposals.
We get two views now on the NRA's plan and where it fits into the bigger debate right now, first Asa Hutchinson, whom we heard earlier and was the lead author of today's proposal on school safety. He's not an NRA employee, but is consulting with the group on this issue. I spoke with him earlier.
Former Congressman Asa Hutchinson, welcome to the NewsHour.
ASA HUTCHINSON:Thank you, Judy. Good to be with you.
JUDY WOODRUFF:So, we heard what you said today at the news conference. Why are more guns the answer to preventing violence in schools?
ASA HUTCHINSON:Well, whenever there's a tragic incident in a school, the first person who is called and the shooting stops whenever a police officer or an armed guard arrives.
That's when the shooting and the death stops. So the quicker the response, the more lives you save. And the best response can be when there's a school resource officer in the school or some other armed personnel. That's the reason that that's one of the solutions.
There's many more parts to school safety, but that is an important part of it.
JUDY WOODRUFF:But if someone is determined to come in to a school and harm people, why wouldn't they be able to overpower one or two individuals who are trained?
ASA HUTCHINSON:Well, if someone tried to come into a school, first of all, hopefully, the access controls that we recommend, the perimeter security, the surveillance cameras, all of these will come into play to delay that activity or prevent it.
But, sure, any good—bad guy can go in and try to break the systems down and get through. And then it's a response capability. And the best response is somebody who is close and quick. You're either going to call the police to come in 15 minutes later or you're going to have someone there on site.
And this is not an unusual proposal. We have had armed guards in the schools since Bill Clinton recommended it while he was president. We just haven't had sufficient.
JUDY WOODRUFF:Let me read you a comment from the person, the woman who founded and led the—and still leads the Children's Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman. She said—quote—"There's no evidence that armed guards or police officers in schools make children safer. She said: "Columbine High School had an armed guard. Virginia Tech had a full campus police force."
ASA HUTCHINSON:Well, that's why it's not just one solution. There's many solutions here.
But, for example, the training has totally changed since Columbine. So we see what happened there. Improvements have been made. But, for example, who talks about the Pearl High School in 1997 whenever an assistant principal after having two students shot goes out in his truck to retrieve his .45 semiautomatic, goes back in and disarms the assailant?
And so that indicates that there is evidence that you can stop an assailant whenever you have armed protection.
JUDY WOODRUFF:And you mentioned that example earlier today.
Congressman Hutchinson, I also want to quote what the Brady Campaign, founded in the name of Jim Brady, of course, who was terribly wounded the day President Reagan was shot back in 1981—the Brady Campaign said: "This is an effort that is missing the point," because what the American people want, they are saying, is a comprehensive, broad-based approach to reduce gun violence, in other words, more than just something that is focused on adding armed guards in schools.
ASA HUTCHINSON:I would agree with part of it.
What we need is a comprehensive approach to school safety. And you can pass all the laws you want in Washington in terms of restricting guns. Bad guys are still going to have access to guns. And they're still going to be a danger to the school.
JUDY WOODRUFF:So, you're saying there's no place for any additional restrictions on guns in this country?
ASA HUTCHINSON:Well, I don't think it's going to solve the problem of loss of life in schools.
And so if you want to address the problem of safety in schools, you have to have security measures in place. That's what schools all across this country are doing as we speak.
JUDY WOODRUFF:Let me also ask you about a—as you know, there's a measure that is going to be before the Congress in the weeks to come, universal background checks or a version of background checks. The polls are all showing now that the vast majority of Americans, 90 percent of Americans, think that that's an appropriate way to go, to find out who is buying a gun, make sure they don't have some problem in their history before they're allowed to buy a gun.
What's wrong with that?
ASA HUTCHINSON:Well, I agree that criminals shouldn't have guns, convicted felons and people who have been adjudicated with mental problems shouldn't have weapons, should not have access to them.
They need to be adequately put into the system. We first need to fix ...
JUDY WOODRUFF:Adjudicated, though. That—but—so someone who is being treated for a psychological problem wouldn't already be in a system, would they?
ASA HUTCHINSON:Well, I think the mental health professionals have some concerns about who is put into a database.
And so you usually articulate it as to those who have been adjudicated. There's obviously threat assessments that have to be done otherwise. But that's a mental health issue as to who is put in the system. But the problem is, 23 states are not putting that information into the system right now, so fix the system first. Fix the system first.
And that's the best way to prevent those who are not supposed to be getting weapons, firearms, from getting them.
JUDY WOODRUFF:As a former member of Congress and as someone who was an official at the Department of Homeland Security, where do you see this issue going? Do you believe—I mean, there's a lot more attention being paid to it. It's certainly in the media. The American public is saying they want something done.
How do you—where do you see it headed?
ASA HUTCHINSON:Well, Mayor Bloomberg is spending tens of millions of dollars to advocate for gun control legislation.
I would rather that money be spent in school safety programs. You can make a huge difference in safety across our country.
JUDY WOODRUFF:And violence outside of schools?
