The NRA boasts a membership of about 5 million Americans.
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Ahead of President Obama’s town-hall-style event on guns Thursday night at George Mason University, the campus police chief sent an email to students alerting them that protesters might show up outside the venue with their firearms.
This week, President Barack Obama pledged, through executive action, to do some of that work for them. “It’s a great advertising mechanism”, Obama said.
“I mean, I’m only going to be here for another year. When would I have started on this enterprise?”
Jarrett said that she expected the forum would include plenty of people who disagreed with Obama, despite the NRA’s decision not to attend. And the NRA pushed back on Twitter in real time, noting at one point “none of the president’s orders would have stopped any of the recent mass shootings”.
Because of its lax laws, our state has been a conduit for gang members, drug dealers and others who have trouble getting past background checks in other states – particularly IL.
He called out Congress for failing to embrace his call to ramp up funding for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents – underscoring the central problem Obama faces: Congress isn’t going to touch that issue, nor anything else he pushes connected to gun control.
The US government ought to recognise that its porous borders and lax security regime have been allies in the internationalisation of American crime, with crippling consequences to Jamaica and other Third World countries that do not have the fiscal capacity or strong governance infrastructure to stem the tide.
Earlier Thursday the president’s chief spokesman criticized Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz for a campaign solicitation that declared, “Obama wants your guns”, and included a sinister portrayal of the president.
“The president has often said that we can disagree without being disagreeable”, said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday.
The Republican frontrunner told the crowd: “You know what a gun-free zone is for a sicko?”
Obama’s broadside against the NRA came two days after unveiling a package of executive actions aimed at keeping guns from people who shouldn’t have them.
At a televised town hall on guns in America, Obama took questions from Taya Kyle, whose late husband was depicted in the film “American Sniper;” Cleo Pendleton, whose daughter was shot and killed near Obama’s Chicago home; and Sheriff Paul Babeu, an Arizona lawman and congressional candidate who accuses Obama of unconstitutional power grabs.
Obama mocked the nation’s most powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Assn., for refusing to engage in a meaningful policy discussion.
Mr Obama this week announced he would use executive powers to introduce some measures to reduce gun violence.
A university employee who asked not to be identified was “stunned to hear it is okay to openly carry a firearm on a college campus” but added that he has never noticed anyone express that right at George Mason in several years working there.
Instead, he noted how he respected the Second Amendment and the traditions of gun ownership, particularly in rural areas where firearms are vital for protection.
Obama is expected to take questions from the town hall audience, according to CNN.
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In an editorial in The New York Times published on Thursday evening, Obama stressed the need for “common-sense” gun laws and gave a warning to the next election’s crop of candidates.
