NRA's Wayne LaPierre Says ‘Schools Must Be The Most Hardened Targets’

National Rifle Association CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said that schools should be hardened targets in response to a school shooting at a Florida high school.

“Schools must be the most hardened targets in this country,” said LaPierre at a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday.

LaPierre’s comments come one day after survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida met with President Donald Trump at the White House and spoke at a CNN Town Hall. The shooting left 17 dead last week.

“I refuse to leave this stage until I say one more time that we must immediately harden our schools. Every day young children are being dropped off at schools that are virtually wide-open soft targets for anyone bent on mass murder” said LaPierre.

LaPierre’s comments veered into warnings about socialism and the threat of the second amendment being taken away if Democrats ascend to power in the next election.

“You should be anxious and you should be frightened” said LaPierre. “If they seize power ... our American freedoms could be lost and our country will be changed forever …the first to go will be the Second Amendment.”

Students survivors of the shooting have become vocal advocates for gun control and confronted Sen. Marco Rubio and NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch at a CNN Town Hall Wednesday night.

Rubio said that he was in favor of raising the minimum age of purchasing a rifle like the AR-15 that was used in the shooting from 18 to 21 and possibly reconsidering limiting magazine size.

Trump echoed similar sentiments on Twitter Thursday morning, in addition to confusion comments about possibly arming some teachers.