Jeff Flake: NRA's Armed Guard Proposal Would Be 'Edict From Washington'

Incoming Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who was endorsed by the National Rifle Association, announced his opposition to a proposal by the group to place an armed guard in every school in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting.

"I was troubled by that proposal, greatly troubled by that kind of Washington mandate, federal involvement in local schools," he told KTVK Wednesday night.

"Schools, with regard to curriculum, with regard to teachers and staffing, those decisions are best made on the local level," he said. "Security issues are best made at the local level as well, not some edict from Washington."

On Dec. 21, at a widely anticipated Washington press conference, the NRA's top lobbyist, Wayne LaPierre, proposed placing a guard in every school to prevent school shootings. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," he said. Despite his claim, an armed guard at Columbine High School in 1999 who exchanged fire with two gunmen did not prevent a school shooting.

The NRA's political arm, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, spent nearly $322,000 on Flake's behalf in his 2012 campaign for Senate. According to KTVK, LaPierre came to Arizona to campaign for Flake late in the race. He won by just 3 points against Democrat Richard Carmona in normally deep-red Arizona.