PHOENIX – Former Congressman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon recently appeared on "Straight Talk Sedona" (KAZM 780 AM).

Salmon spoke with Brian Sussman and Cara Kretz about his plans to secure Arizona's border – including through his Operation Copper Shield initiative – and improve school safety so that our children are safe in their classrooms.

You can read relevant excerpts from the interview below:

Matt Salmon On Securing Arizona's Border:

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"I've introduced this idea called Operation Copper Shield. On the very first day I'm governor ... I'm going to ask [the state legislature] for $200 million. $140 [million] of that is to pay for armed National Guard members – 1,200 to be specific – that will operate along the border ... and then $50 million for our border sheriffs and for our DPS and for our county attorneys on the borders so that they can arrest those people that break our state laws."

Matt Salmon On Improving School Safety:

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"We've got to make our schools safer ... In Ohio, they have a program called FASTER where they're actually training teachers both in weapons defense as well as in triage and medical issues as well, and it's a very extensive program ... The other piece of it is: Isn't it finally time that we look at the reality that we need officers at the schools? We've got to do that, and, as governor, this is one of the most important things that I want to fix."