As the Obama administration prepares to release a set of comprehensive recommendations for limiting gun violence, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has produced an ad attacking President Obama as an “elitist hypocrite” for maintaining Secret Service protection of his daughters while expressing skepticism for stationing armed guards or volunteers in schools. The provocative spot comes less than a month after the NRA hosted a press conference blaming video games and the media for the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut and advocated for eliminating gun free zones.

“Are the president’s kids more important than yours?” the narrator of the group’s 35-second video asks. “Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school? Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, but he’s just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security.” Watch it:

Obama has expressed skepticism about the NRA’s proposal to put armed security guards in schools, though many Democrats have said that the decision should be left to local school officials. Lawmakers across the country have proposed arming school officials and at least one-third of the nation’s 99,000 schools already employ armed security.

“I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools,” Obama said during an appearance on Meet The Press. “And I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem.”

The NRA’s ad has predictably sparked bipartisan outrage, but the group’s right-wing leadership has a long history of making inflammatory comments that elicit public condemnation. The organization portrays the resulting reaction as elitest hostility towards gun owners and fundraises off the response.

Texas State Rep. Steve Toth (R-TX), with the apparent support of at least one of Texas’ most powerful politicians, will introduce unconstitutional legislation subjecting federal law enforcement officers to arrest and prosecution if they enforce new gun safety laws in the Lone Star State:

A Texas lawmaker says he plans to file the Firearms Protection Act, which would make any federal laws that may be passed by Congress or imposed by Presidential order which would ban or restrict ownership of semi-automatic firearms or limit the size of gun magazines illegal in the state, 1200 WOAI news reports.

Republican Rep. Steve Toth says his measure also calls for felony criminal charges to be filed against any federal official who tries to enforce the rule in the state.

“If a federal official comes into the state of Texas to enforce the federal executive order, that person is subject to criminal prosecution,” Toth told 1200 WOAI’s Joe Pags Tuesday. He says his bill would make attempting to enforce a federal gun ban in Texas punishable by a $50,000 fine and up to five years in prison.

Toth’s bill is wildly unconstitutional. The Constitution provides that duly enacted federal laws “shall be the supreme law of the land” — a provision known as the “Supremacy Clause” — and thus states are powerless to nullify laws their lawmakers don’t feel like complying with or to arrest federal officials for carrying out their lawful duties. This Clause applies both to valid Acts of Congress themselves and to properly authorized executive orders, as the President’s power to issue an executive order generally flows from an Act of Congress.

Strangely, Toth does not appear to question that his bill is unconstitutional. Rather, he told The Chad Hasty Show on Monday that his goal is to undermine the Constitution itself. In Toth’s words, “we want to do everything we can, especially as pertains to the Supremacy Clause. The Supremacy Clause gives the federal government — it basically trumps state law — which is wrong. And we want to do everything we can to undermine that.”

The New York State legislature has passed a piece of gun legislation called the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, or NYSAFE. The comprehensive measure makes sweeping changes to how the state approaches firearms and mental health. Here’s everything you need to know about the measure:

1. New York is the first state to do something since Newtown. There has been a lot of talk about gun safety legislation in the wake of the horrific murder of 20 little kids and seven adults, but New York legislators are the first to pass any measures at all that might help to prevent such incidents from recurring. At least ten states have proposed gun laws.

2. It regulates access to the most deadly weapons and ammunition. One of the primary functions of the bill is that it bans certain guns and ammunition that allow a murderer to kill with little effort. The bill, the New York Times reports, “[bans] semiautomatic pistols and rifles with detachable magazines and one military-style feature, as well as semiautomatic shotguns with one military-style feature. New Yorkers who already own such guns could keep them but would be required to register them with the state.” New York is the third state with this kind of assault weapons ban, along with Massachusetts and New Jersey. It also bans magazine clips that hold more than seven bullets.

3. It protects the mentally ill. The bill will require gun owners in homes with mentally ill people to properly lock up firearms. It also requires mental health professionals to report to authorities any patient who is suicidal or has thoughts about killing others, so that guns owned by such individuals can be confiscated if they are found to be a public threat. Legislators also included another protection for the mentally ill: It expands the ability of judges to order mentally ill people to seek outpatient care.

4. Republican state senators supported it. The Republican-controlled state senate voted in favor of the bill by a margin of 43 to 18. Republican senators were vocal in their support. State Sen. Dean Skelos, a Republican from Long Island, told Bloomberg News, “he voted for Cuomo’s bill because it strikes a balance between gun owners’ rights and public safety.”

The bill is more than a symbolic answer to a tragedy; it will probably help to curb violence in the state. A recent Washington Post study showed that, when the federal assault weapons ban was in place for ten years, far fewer high-capacity guns were found at crime scenes — only 9 percent. After the ban expired, that jumped to 20 percent.

Alaska State Rep. Bob Lynn (R-Anchorage)

Republican state Representative Bob Lynn is backing a new bill which would allow school districts across Alaska to arm their teachers and school officials with guns inside public school classrooms.

Arming teachers has become something of a catchall for Republicans across the country who remain unwilling to support new restrictions on gun ownership yet admit that something needs to be done to prevent future tragedies from occurring. But arming teachers remains a deeply unpopular solution, perhaps because it doesn’t work.

Lynn told the Anchorage Daily News that his plan is merely a matter of allowing individual school districts to decide what is best for their communities.

“We’ve got to protect our kids, and how do you do that?” Lynn said. “Should you do that by arming somebody in the school? Should you do that by some other method? I’m not sure I know the answer to that, but that’s why the school boards need to take this up and get input from the community, from all sides of that issue, and make up their own mind.”

So far, Lynn hasn’t convinced any other lawmakers to join him as a co-sponsor of the bill. And while local Democrats have questioned the wisdom of introducing amateur marksmen into school buildings, Republicans may balk for an entirely different reason.

As the Daily News points out, because Alaska has one of the least restrictive set of laws governing gun ownership, Lynn’s bill would actually tighten regulations on bringing guns into schools. Current law allows for any adult to bring a gun into a school building so long as he or she obtains permission from a school administrator. Lynn’s bill would limit who could have a gun to current, full-time employees who undergo some training.