After mass shootings, NRA pins blame on familiar list

In the aftermath of recent school shootings, a familiar pattern has played out in the debate over guns.

Gun-control advocates push for tougher laws, including universal background checks to prohibiting the sale and possession of AR-style long guns. The National Rifle Association and many Republican leaders insist the root of the problem is not guns but a range of issues such as mental health, school security, video games and excessive prescriptions of attention-deficit disorder drugs such as Ritalin.

Gun-control advocates call the strategy a clever smoke screen to avoid having to talk about gun control. The cycle repeats with the next mass shooting.

The talking points have evolved over the years and become part of the NRA playbook in response to recent school shootings — and in turn have been echoed by Republican leaders in states such as Texas that have experienced gun violence in schools.

Here is a closer look at contentions by the NRA.

School buildings

After the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed 26 people, the NRA launched its School Shield program that offers to review and assess school properties and identify ways to make them harder to penetrate by a would-be school shooter. Among the thoughts are fewer entrances and exits, ensuring the administration offices are within sight of the main entrance to quickly see who is entering, fewer shrubs and trees up against the building, bulletproof windows and doors, and the ability to lock a classroom from inside the room.

School security experts say those structural changes are important to making school safer — but they don’t replace other steps such as finding ways to identify students who are in some emotional trouble and encouraging students to report concerns about a classmate.

Arming educators

President Donald Trump, the NRA and, most recently Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, all have said that having armed and trained educators would allow a school gunman to be confronted sooner and prevent mass casualties. The president has also suggested paying bonuses to teachers willing to undergo training and carry a firearm on campus.

Some schools around the country already allow educators to bring a firearm into the school. Consulting firms have sprouted up that provide specialized training for teachers.

Ritalin

The NRA’s incoming president, retired Lt. Col. Oliver North, recently blamed school shootings on the drug Ritalin, which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. His comments came in the days after the Santa Fe, Texas, school shooting. However it’s not known if the suspect in that case had been prescribed that drug or was using it.