“They should be on every floor of every school,” Hannity said. “We could do that with stores. We could do that in malls. We can do that pretty much anywhere the public is.”

After dismissing the politicians and celebrities who spoke out in favor of gun reform as people looking to “score cheap, intellectually dishonest political points,” Hannity urged his audience to seek out “real solutions that also respect our constitutional rights [and] don’t infringe on the rights of hundreds of millions of Americans.”

His plan was quickly criticized on social media.

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“That is the definition of a police state,” one Twitter user wrote.

Others promptly brought up the dangerous and disproportionate consequences of heavy policing. “Sean Hannity has obviously never been to schools attended by predominantly Black and Latinx children,” another user wrote. “Just makes it more likely that children will get cuffed & arrested for being children.”

Some detractors got creative. “Hannity’s vision of future schools is a scene right out of ‘Children of Men,’ ” another user wrote, referring to the dystopian near-future world of Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 film.

This isn’t the first time Hannity has flirted with the idea of paramilitary forces. In the aftermath of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Hannity took to the air to denounce the Democratic politicians, entertainers and artists in support of gun regulations. He then presented his plan, which he called “not political,” for a security presence at every school capable of carrying out “comprehensive threat assessment.”

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He acknowledged that Marjory Stoneman already possessed a school resource deputy, who never encountered accused shooter Nikolas Cruz during his attack. Hannity countered by saying more guards are needed to protect the student population.

At the time, he didn’t have an answer to the financial cost of his proposal, but argued that children’s safety was worth footing the bill.

And, he added, “local FBI would be happy to help.”