"The gun-lobby goons were at it again" (Dana Milbank)

By amazing coincidence, the "independent" report commissioned by the NRA, brandished here by old-school loon former Rep. "Itchy Asa" Hutchinson at Tuesday's big armed press conference, is solidly percent behind the its loony scheme to make the schools "safe" by filling them with armed goons. One difference: The "independent" task force wants those goons to be professionals, rejecting the vigilantes envisioned by the NRA.

"By journalistic custom and D.C. law, of course, reporters don't carry guns to news conferences -- and certainly not when the person at the lectern is the NRA's Asa Hutchinson, an unremarkable former congressman and Bush administration official whom most reporters couldn't pick out of a lineup. But the NRA wasn't going to leave any doubt about its superior firepower."

-- Dana Milbank, in his WaPo column yesterday,
"The NRA's disarming plan toarm schools"

"The purchase of Asa Hutchinson did not and will not prevent the N.R.A. from buying a single additional congressman in the future. Period."

-- the NRA's "Crazy Wayne" LaPierre, quoted in the Borowitz
Report "N.R.A. Defends Purchase of Former Congressman"

by Ken

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank surely knows how to set a scene. The scene in this case is the press conference at which "Call Me Crazy" Wayne LaPierre announced the National Rifle Association's uneagerly awaited plan for school insecurity, which is to turn the nation's schools into free-fire zones. Hey, as long as there are guns firing, Crazy Wayne is happy.

The quote in the post title is the opening line of Dana's column yesterday, "The NRA's disarming plan toarm schools." From there he proceeds to a reminder that the NRA's security guards "gained notoriety earlier this year when, escorting NRA officials to a hearing, they were upbraided by Capitol authorities for pushing cameramen."

The thugs were back Tuesday when the NRA rolled out its "National School Shield" -- the gun lobbyists' plan to get armed guards in public schools -- and this time they were packing heat.

About 20 of them -- roughly one for every three reporters -- fanned out through the National Press Club, some in uniforms with gun holsters exposed, others with earpieces and bulges under their suit jackets.

In a spectacle that officials at the National Press Club said they had never seen before, the NRA gunmen directed some photographers not to take pictures, ordered reporters out of the lobby when NRA officials passed and inspected reporters' briefcases before granting them access to the news conference.

The antics gave new meaning to the notion of disarming your critics.

By journalistic custom and D.C. law, of course, reporters don't carry guns to news conferences -- and certainly not when the person at the lectern is the NRA's Asa Hutchinson, an unremarkable former congressman and Bush administration official whom most reporters couldn't pick out of a lineup. But the NRA wasn't going to leave any doubt about its superior firepower.

Thus has it gone so far in the gun debate in Washington. . . .

Dana seems unsurprised by the faded chances for any sort of meaningful congressional action to curb the gun craziness. The momentum is all going in the other direction. But then, we know who creates that momentum.

If the NRA has its way, as it usually does, states will soon be weakening their gun laws to allow more guns in schools. The top two recommendations Hutchinson announced Tuesday involved firearms in the schoolhouse. The first: "training programs" for "designated armed school personnel." The second: "adoption of model legislation by individual states to allow for armed school personnel."

Hutchinson claimed that his task force, which came up with these ideas, had "full independence" from the NRA. By coincidence, the proposals closely matched those announced by the NRA before it formed and funded the task force. The task force did scale back plans to protect schools with armed volunteer vigilantes, opting instead for arming paid guards and school staff -- at least one in every school. States and school districts "are prepared" to pay for it, Hutchinson declared.

The task force garnished the more-guns recommendations with some good ideas, such as better fencing, doors and security monitoring for schools, and more mental-health intervention. But much of that is in the overall Senate legislation that the NRA is trying to kill.

To close his case, Hutchinson introduced a secret weapon, "special guest" Mark Mattioli, the father of one of the Newtown, Conn., victims. Mattioli told reporters that there had been "nine school shootings since Newtown" but that Newtown was "off the bell curve, if you will, with respect to the impact."

Perhaps that's because the Newtown killer had a military-style gun with a 30-round magazine?

And if the NRA gets its way, says Dana, "American schoolchildren may grow accustomed to the sort of scene Hutchinson caused Tuesday, protected by more armed guards than a Third World dictator."

Hutchinson, pressed by reporters about the armed goons, said: "You go into a mall, there is security. And so there is security here at the National Press Club."

A reporter asked Hutchinson what he was afraid of.

"There's nothing I'm afraid of. I'm very wide open," Hutchinson replied, separated from his unarmed questioners by an eight-foot buffer zone, a lectern, a raised podium, a red-velvet rope and a score of gun-toting men. "There's nothing I'm nervous about."

SAY, WHO IS THIS ASA HUTCHINSON BOZO ANYWAYS?

For a bit of background, as well as some controversy regarding the NRA's new use of Itchy Asa as a front loon, we turn to the crack investigators at the Borowitz Report.

N.R.A. Defends Purchase of Former Congressman

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) -- The National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre today defended his decision to purchase the former congressman Asa Hutchinson, after an outspoken N.R.A. member complained that the organization should be using its funds to buy current congressmen only.

Shortly after Mr. Hutchinson appeared at a press conference in Washington to present the N.R.A.'s plan to arm teachers and other school personnel, N.R.A. dissident Tracy Klugian blasted the purchase of the former Arkansas representative.

"Members of the N.R.A. fork over millions of dollars to this organization," he said. "That money should be used to buy people who are actually in Congress now, not some has-been like Hutchinson who doesn't even have a vote anymore."

Mr. Klugian said that as he watched former Rep. Hutchinson at the podium, "It made my blood boil, especially when I thought about all of the current congressmen out there who are totally for sale."

Not long after Mr. Klugian made his comments, Mr. LaPierre pushed back: "The purchase of Asa Hutchinson did not and will not prevent the N.R.A. from buying a single additional congressman in the future. Period."

While refusing to divulge the purchase price for Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. LaPierre reassured the N.R.A. membership, "We got a very good deal on Asa. There wasn't exactly a bidding war."

In a separate statement, Mr. Hutchinson said, "A free and lively exchange of views is what makes the N.R.A. such a great organization -- and is why I'm so proud to be owned by it."

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