The National Rifle Association has declined an invitation from CNN to send a representative to a televised town hall forum with President Obama on Thursday to discuss his new gun-control steps.
“The National Rifle Association sees no reason to participate in a public-relations spectacle organized by the White House,” NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said in a statement to CNN, which is hosting the event Thursday night.
The decision comes just two days after Obama unveiled a series of limited steps aimed at expanding background checks for gun buyers, as well as increasing access to mental health facilities for those who need them, among other actions.
The NRA, the nation’s largest and most powerful gun lobby, criticized the roll-out as an attempt to distract from the president’s lack of a “coherent strategy” to protect the American people against a terrorist attack. The powerful gun rights organization also said the president is showing “contempt” for the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
CNN argues that the network, not the White House, proposed the idea of a town hall on guns and stresses that the audience will be evenly divided between organizations and advocates on both sides of the gun-control issue. Groups CNN invited include: Gun Owners of America, American Firearms Retailers Association, Everytown for Gun Safety and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama, said the president welcomes the opportunity to begin a conversation with a “broader range of people who may disagree or agree with him.”
“His view is that reasonable people can have differences of opinion but let’s have a conversation and it’s a very effective way of separating fact from fiction,” she told reporters on a conference call Wednesday afternoon. “There has been a lot of fiction that’s been swirling around in the public domain and so this gives him a chance to engage with people who are supportive and those who question if this is the right strategy.”
