"It's long past time to, at the very least, allow our school faculty and staff the option to be trained and armed," the Arizona Citizens Defense League said in a statement. "Only then will they be capable of dealing with a situation like this."

Amid public debate over what to do in response to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, the league is "now looking at things that can be done to heighten security in schools," spokesman Charles Heller said during an earlier interview. "We hadn't been before."

Arizona law now generally bans taking guns on school grounds.