As one might expect, both sides in the gun control debate have different takes on the executive actions President Obama announced this week to try and reduce the rate of gun violence.
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During last night’s CNN-hosted town hall meeting, President Obama emphasized that he wanted to impose stricter backgrounds checks to fix many Americans’ frayed sense of personal security. And for all the bluster about the constitutional right to bear arms, Obama pointed out that shooting victims had their rights violated – freedom of worship for those slain in a Charleston, S.C., church, freedom of assembly for moviegoers killed in Aurora, Colo., the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness for students at Columbine, Colo., Virginia Tech and Santa Barbara. He said the NRA was invited to the town hall but declined to participate.
As President Obama works tirelessly to implement gun control regulations, firearm supporters continue to cry conspiracy, claiming that the president is attempting to confiscate all guns.
A CNN spokesperson said that it was the network, not the White House, that proposed the idea of a town hall on guns and noted that the audience would be evenly divided between organizations that support the Second Amendment, including NRA members, as well as groups that back gun regulation. President Obama quickly addressed their nonappearance. “They’re just down the street”, Obama said, referring to the group’s nearby headquarters.
The White House has sought to portray the NRA, the nation’s largest gun group, as possessing a disproportionate influence over lawmakers that has prevented new gun laws despite polls that show broad USA support for measures like universal background checks.
The American Firearms Retailers Association, another lobby group that represents gun dealers, did participate.
The President promised more enforcement of existing guns laws. “But, you know, ultimately, that’s clearly what he’s up to”. “That’s bait”, Trump told the crowd. Just after his 2012 re-election, Obama pushed hard for a bipartisan gun control bill that collapsed in the Senate, ending any realistic prospects for a legislative solution in the near term. The NRA strengthened its comment after initially saying the White House had “organized” the event. Obama took questions from Taya Kyle, whose late husband was depicted in the film “American Sniper”, and Cleo Pendleton, whose daughter was shot and killed near Obama’s Chicago home.
In a New York Times op-ed published Thursday before his town hall on guns, President Obama called the “epidemic of gun violence” in the United States a “crisis”, and said it was time to “demand leaders fearless enough to stand up to the gun lobby’s lies”.
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As president, Obama wrote, he used his legal authority to issue executive actions, and as a citizen, “I will not campaign for, vote for, or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform”. Instead, it appeared aimed at Democratic congressional candidates from competitive districts who might want Obama’s support on the campaign trail this year.
