“I think it’s useful to keep in mind I’ve been president for over seven years, and gun sales don’t seem to have suffered during that time”, said Obama.
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Following the meeting, the New York Times published an opinion column written by Obama outlining how he will not support any presidential candidate who refuses to back gun reform.
U.S. President Barack Obama is seen on a monitor as he speaks during a live town hall event on reducing gun violence hosted by CNNÄôs Anderson Cooper at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia January 7, 2016.
Astronaut Mark Kelly, who founded a gun control advocacy group with his wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, after she was shot in 2011, noted there were 350 million guns in the United States.
The president has said he’ll expand background checks, support the advancement of gun safety technology and improve mental health care in an effort to usher in greater gun control. “That’s how all kids should be growing up”, Obama said.
“The NRA has convinced many of its members that somebody’s going to come grab your guns, which is by the way, really profitable for the gun manufacturers”. There’s a reason why the NRA is not here.
“There’s a reason the NRA is not here, they’re just down the street, and since this is the main reason they exist you’d think they’d want to have a debate with the president”, Obama said of the NRA’s absence.
Earlier this week a tearful Obama said he would bypass Congress and take limited measures to tackle USA gun violence.
CNN reported that the more Obama spoke, the more the group’s feelings toward him “stiffened” – especially when the president said that those who believe he wants to confiscate guns are buying into a “conspiracy”. I respect the right to bear arms.
The National Rifle Association was invited to participate, but according to NRA-ILA Executive Vice President Chris Cox, the organization was told they would only be allowed to ask a single, pre-screened question.
“At one point Michelle turned to me and said, ‘You know, if I was living in a farmhouse where the sheriff’s department is pretty far away and somebody can just turn off the highway and come up to the farm”.
After other mass shootings in Colorado, Arizona, Texas and South Carolina, Obama repeated his call for beefing up gun control and banning assault weapons – only to be rebuffed by Congress and the NRA.
Obama also said he would not endorse any candidate who did not support gun control measures.
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In Chicago, he said, “about 30 percent, 40 percent of those guns are coming from IN across the border, where there are much laxer laws, and so folks will go to a gun show and purchase a whole bunch of firearms, put them IN a van, drive up [to] the South Side of Chicago… open up the trunk, and those things are for sale”.
