President Barack Obama rejected the conservative talking point on Thursday that his administration is out to strip guns away from their owners.
Advertisement
Obama didn’t hold back when asked by CNN moderator Anderson Cooper about the notion that the federal government – and Obama in particular – wants to seize all firearms as a precursor to imposing martial law.
He said the NRA has a “stranglehold” on Congress and that the gun group was partially to blame for spikes in gun sales after mass shootings, which he says has “convinced many of its members that somebody is going to come grab your guns”.
“It is a conspiracy!” he said, seemingly miffed by the question. Federal law needs to cover such small-time and informal dealers, at least those who sell a certain number of guns each year. “I don’t know – when would I have started on this enterprise, right?” In 2015, there were some 372 mass shootings around the country.
Taking the stage at George Mason University, Obama accused the NRA of refusing to participate in the town hall despite having its headquarters nearby.
He added that it was invited to attend the forum, televised by CNN, but had declined to participate.
‘And by the way, there’s a reason why the NRA is not here. “They are just down the street”.
Obama says contrary to the claims of some GOP presidential candidates, he’s not plotting to take away everyone’s guns. “If a child can’t open a bottle of aspirin, we should also make sure she can’t pull the trigger of a gun”.
President Obama’s executive pen and political will are locked and loaded for a fight to strengthen gun control laws in his final year in office.
The town hall meeting followed new executive actions that tightened gun control by clarifying how firearms sellers are classified, requiring a license and background checks to be preformed on potential buyers.
Obama implies that there exists the possibility that he might campaign for or support a candidate who does not belong to his party, in other words a Republican. Until then, Obama has taken the steps to help insure that it is harder to purchase a gun without the blessing of Congress whether we like it or not. All of us need to stand up and protect its citizens. This portrayal is likely an example of President Obama’s pledge to “politicize” the issue of gun control to effect change.
Advertisement
On Thursday night, President Barack Obama published an op-ed in the New York Times, making an argument for “common-sense gun reform”, after a week in which he’s campaigned for stricter gun control.
