WASHINGTON (AP) — Guns and police officers in all American schools are what’s needed to stop the next killer ‘‘waiting in the wings,’’ the National Rifle Association declared Friday, taking a no-retreat stance in the face of growing calls for gun control after the Connecticut shootings that claimed the lives of 26 children and school staff.

‘‘The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,’’ said Wayne LaPierre, the group’s chief executive officer.

Some members of Congress who had long scoffed at gun-control proposals have begun to suggest some concessions could be made, and a fierce debate over legislation seems likely next month. President Barack Obama has demanded ‘‘real action, right now.’’






‘‘I think everyone recognizes that an armed presence in schools is sometimes appropriate,’’ Hutchinson said. ‘‘That is one option. I would never want to have a mandatory requirement for every school district to have that.’’



LaPierre argued that guards need to be in place quickly because ‘‘the next Adam Lanza,’’ the suspected shooter in Newtown, Conn., is already planning an attack on another school.

‘‘How many more copycats are waiting in the wings for their moment of fame from a national media machine that rewards them with wall-to-wall attention and a sense of identity that they crave, while provoking others to try to make their mark?’’ LaPierre asked. ‘‘A dozen more killers, a hundred more? How can we possibly even guess how many, given our nation’s refusal to create an active national database of the mentally ill?’’


New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the NRA is blaming everyone but itself for a national gun crisis and is offering ‘‘a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe.’’

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., called the NRA’s response ‘‘both ludicrous and insulting’’ and pointed out that armed personnel at Columbine High School and Fort Hood could not stop mass shootings. The liberal group CREDO, which organized an anti-NRA protest on Capitol Hill, called LaPierre’s speech ‘‘bizarre and quite frankly paranoid.’’Continued...