NRA To School Officials: Train And Arm A Staffer

A National Rifle Association-sponsored study is recommending schools across the nation each train and arm at least one staff member.

Former Arkansas Republican Rep. Asa Hutchinson headed the study. It made eight recommendations that included online assessments that schools would make of their safety procedures. Hutchinson said the NRA dropped an earlier recommendation that retired police officers and other volunteers be armed to provide school safety. He said the idea was opposed by school superintendents.

The NRA announced its plan at a news conference a week before the Senate begins debating gun control legislation.

The group opposes the main component of that bill — expanding background checks to cover nearly all purchases of firearms.

Hutchinson said the 225-page study cost $1 million. Several NRA-supplied security guards were at the event.

Obama plans to promote gun control in Connecticut

President Barack Obama is planning a trip to Connecticut Monday to step up the pressure on a reluctant Congress to pass gun control legislation.

A White House official speaking on a condition of anonymity says the president will speak at the University of Hartford. Families of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December are being invited to attend.

It will be the president's second trip in a week to a state hit by a mass shooting tragedy. He's traveling Wednesday to Colorado, the site of a shooting at a crowded movie theater last summer.

The official spoke on a condition of anonymity since the trip had not yet been officially announced.