Former US Congressman Asa Hutchinson unveiled the NRA task force plan (Courtesy Bloomberg TV)

After the shooting at a Newtown, Conn. elementary school last December, the NRA said it would deliver a strategy to ensure improved school safety. Just as the Connecticut General Assembly appeared set to aprove some of the nation's most stringent gun control laws Wednesday, the NRA held a press conference detailing the 225-page report it commissioned after three months of work from the National School Shield Task Force. The report, led by former Congressman Asa Hutchinson, even left open the possibility for teachers to be able to have weapons in classrooms.

"Teachers should teach," Hutchinson said. "But if there is personnel who has good experience, who has interest in it and is willing to go through this training.”

"Obviously, we believe they will make a difference in the various layers that make up school safety," Hutchinson added at the heavily guarded press conference. 

ALSO SEE: Assault Weapons Ban Provokes NRA Reaction

Any staff member or guard would have to undergo 40 to 60 hours of training before being able to carry a weapon at a school, the report said.

But criticism of the report was quick and widespread.

From Politico: 

 

“Today’s NRA proposal is a cruel hoax that will fail to keep our children and schools safe,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a statement. “It is simply designed to assist gun manufacturers flood the nation and our schools with more guns and large magazine clips, which will simply lead to more violence.”

 

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Children's Defense Fund were also quick to condemn the measure as doing more harm than good.

Mark Mattioli, a parent who lost a son in the Newtown shooting and has advocated a focus on mental health rather than gun control since the shooting, spoke out in favor of the task force plan.

"I wanted to take a minute and applaud ... the NRA for coming up and spending the time and resources on putting a program like this together," Mattioli said. "If you look what took place in Sandy Hook, mental health is a huge component of that. We need to focus research attention, research. We need the kids to be safe."

Though the NRA task force plan has provisions for mental health support, it was light on specifics on funding any portion of its proposed ideas.

Meanwhile, Connecticut legislators were set to convene Wednesday after a bipartisan state task force agreed on numerous changes to the state's gun laws. 

From CNN:

The draft legislation would add more than 100 types of guns to the state's list of banned assault weapons; limit the capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds; ban armor-piercing bullets; require background checks for all weapon sales, including at gun shows; establish safety standards for school buildings; allow mental health training for teachers; and expand mental health research in the state.

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