Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired harsh words at the National Rifle Association Friday, blasting a statement by the country's largest gun rights lobby as "outrageous and unsettling."
“It’s outrageous and unsettling that the NRA would choose to address gun violence not by taking assault weapons off our streets, but by adding more guns to our schools," Emanuel said in a statement Friday. "That is not the right answer for our society, our schools and most importantly our children."
Shortly after a national moment of silence held in memory of the victim's of last Friday's massacre in Newtown, Conn., the NRA held a press briefing in which the powerful gun lobby called for an armed policeman in every school to stop the next killer "waiting in the wings."
"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre said at the Washington briefing, according to the Tribune. "Does anybody really believe that the next Adam Lanza isn't planning his attack on a school he's already identified at this very moment?"
In his statement, the staunchly pro-gun control mayor added, "The time has come for the NRA to get on board or get out of the way.”
Along with other Illinois party leaders like Gov. Pat Quinn and Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Emanuel has also vowed to fight the recent state ruling striking down the Illinois ban on carrying concealed weapons.
Emanuel wasn't the only big-city mayor to blast the lobbyist group, with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg saying, "They offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe."
Rep. Mike Quigley slammed the NRA's comments of Friday as well, calling LaPierre's statement "a joke, thoughtless, meaningless, an afront, not just to the victims of Connecticut but for every crisis we've faced."
Thursday, Emanuel gathered with 22 area mayors in a renwed call for a ban on semi-automatic weapons, reports NBC Chicago. The group also called for a restriction on the size of bullet clips and more complete background checks on gun purchases.