The head of the National Rifle Association (NRA) has lashed out at gun control advocates, saying Democratic elites are politicising the latest mass school shooting in the United States to try to erode constitutionally guaranteed gun rights.

Key points: NRA boss says "elites don't care one whit about school system"

NRA boss says "elites don't care one whit about school system" Donald Trump calls NRA "great American patriots"

Donald Trump calls NRA "great American patriots" Democrat Chuck Schumer says NRA out of touch

NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre echoed President Donald Trump's call to arm teachers to prevent school shootings, and weighed into a long-running political and cultural divide over access to weapons that has been inflamed by last week's massacre at a Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff.

"The elites don't care not one whit about America's school system and school children," Mr LaPierre told a friendly audience of conservatives outside Washington.

"Their goal is to eliminate the Second Amendment [of the constitution] and our firearms freedoms so they can eradicate all individual freedoms."

The NRA is a politically influential lobby group that endorsed Mr Trump for president in 2016 and has close ties to conservative Republicans.

The Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms.

Sorry, this video has expired Donald Trump says gun-free schools 'a magnet for bad people' (Photo: AP/Evan Vucci)

At the White House, Mr Trump told local and state school officials he had been in touch with the NRA about his ideas to stem gun violence in schools and said "there's a tremendous feeling that we want to get something done".

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Earlier, he called the NRA "great American patriots".

The Valentine's Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was the latest in a series of deadly shootings at US schools and has spurred unprecedented youth-led protests in cities across the country.

Many of the teenagers and their parents taking part have called for more curbs on guns.

Mr LaPierre, speaking at the annual gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference, portrayed the NRA as the true protector of the country's schoolchildren and offered free training to those who want to bear arms to protect schools.

"We must immediately harden our schools," he said.

"Every day, young children are being dropped off at schools that are virtually wide open, soft targets for anyone bent on mass murder."

It should not be easier to shoot up a school than a bank or a jewellery store, he added.

Mr LaPierre attacked Democrats by name including senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Christopher Murphy, and also took a swipe at the FBI for failing to follow up on a tip about the alleged shooter in the Parkland massacre.

FBI admits it's lost public trust

A top FBI official has acknowledged that the nation's top law enforcement agency had lost public trust for failing to investigate the tip, a mistake he suggested was the result of bad judgment.

David Bowdich, the FBI's acting deputy director, said he personally visited the FBI's West Virginia call centre this week as part of a review of why a warning that the suspect, Nikolas Cruz, had access to guns and a "desire to kill" was not referred to agents in Florida for further investigation.

"People make judgments out on the street every day," Mr Bowdich said, adding that the bureau is still trying to determine exactly what went wrong.

"Every now and then those judgments may not have been the best judgments based on the information they had at the time."

Sorry, this video has expired Students and parents pleaded at a listening session for Donald Trump to take action (Photo: AP/Carolyn Kaster)

Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer condemned Mr LaPierre's comments and said the NRA was "once again spewing pathetic, out of touch ideas, blaming everything but guns".

Mr Trump reiterated his idea, first raised on Wednesday, of arming teachers.

The President called for teachers to be "highly trained, gun adept", saying gun-free schools are "a magnet for bad people".

He pushed for an offensive strategy, warning "defence alone won't work" and said armed teachers could "solve the problem instantly, before police arrive".

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 29 seconds 1 m 29 s How Las Vegas attacker Stephen Paddock fired so many rounds

Reuters