The Arizona sheriff who has courted controversy constantly in his career is now raising eyebrows with a plan to send his armed volunteer "posse" to guard schools after this month's shooting massacre at a Connecticut elementary school. Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio wants to station those volunteers, who number about 3,000 and have about 100 hours of training as would-be deputies, outside of about 50 schools, according to the local NBC affiliate. "I don't need a new law to send out my posse," Arpaio told it. "I feel like we should do whatever we can outside of the schools." Arpaio's proposal comes on the heels of similar ones from other Arizona lawmakers, including the Pinal County sheriff's suggestion of arming willing school principals and the state attorney general's idea of arming one designated employee in every school. Arizona state law bans firearms from public school campuses, and many educators and anti-gun activists have decried the proposals.
