He said the National Rifle Association (NRA) had deliberately misrepresented proposed legislation on gun control.
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President Barack Obama delivered a plea for stricter gun laws during an hourlong televised town-hall-style event Thursday night, demanding a national response to what he called an epidemic of gun violence in the country. Obama repeatedly trashed the organization – which helps fund the election campaigns of strident gun advocates – notably for not taking part in the debate near its own headquarters in Virginia.
The president ranted that the idea is obviously nothing more than a conspiracy theory.
“The notion that we would not apply the same basic principles to gun ownership as we do to everything else that we own just to try to make them safer – or the notion that anything we do to try to make them safer is somehow a plot to try to take away guns – that contradicts what we do to create a better life for Americans in every other area of our lives”. Yes, that is a conspiracy! “I would hope that you would agree”. “When would I have started on this enterprise?”
What we can’t abide is the president’s belief that people who disagree with him don’t care about preventing violence.
The president used the event to defend and explain the series of executive actions he announced earlier in the week in an attempt to reduce gun violence.
The president responded that those criminals illegally purchase weapons from others who should’ve been subject to background checks.
“If we can set it up so you can’t unlock your phone unless you’ve got the right fingerprint, why can’t we do the same thing for our guns?”
The poll also found that 42% of adults say that they or someone in their household owns a gun, and 28% say they are planning to buy one; 55% of them say that it is for “security or protection”.
“We need the vast majority of responsible gun owners who grieve with us after every mass shooting, who support common-sense gun safety and who feel that their views are not being properly represented, to stand with us and demand that leaders heed the voices of the people they are supposed to represent”, Mr Obama wrote.
As President Obama prepares to hold a forum on gun laws, a local lawmaker is preparing to take action in her state.
The blunt exchanges came on the same day that Mr Obama pledged in an op-ed article published by The New York Times that he would not “campaign for, vote for or support” any candidates, including Democrats, who do not support “common sense” gun control measures.
There will also be moves to tighten rules for reporting guns that are lost or stolen to make it easier for law enforcement to track down missing firearms.
That led to a discussion of whether the government was conspiring to take away Americans’ guns.
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said before the event that the group saw “no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House”.
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Mr. President, you’ve said you’ve been thwarted by, frustrated by Congress. As a sheriff, I often times get frustrated, but I don’t make the laws and I’ve sworn an oath to enforce the law to uphold the Constitution.
