The National Rifle Association accused the White House of having "an agenda to attack the Second Amendment" Thursday, after representatives of the group attended meetings on gun control hosted by Vice President Biden.
The Obama administration is using the meetings to collect ideas and possibly ease the way for gun control legislation, which became a higher priority after the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Conn., last month. But it seems there was no ground bridged in the meetings with the NRA.
"The vice president made it clear, made it explicitly clear, that the president had already made up his mind on those issues," NRA president David Keene said after the session, according to the AP. "We made it clear that we disagree with them."
Mark wrote a post earlier today about the administration's options, which include improving the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and instituting limits on certain types of guns and ammunition holders. It's also possible that the president could try to make some of those changes by issuing executive orders.
Biden has said he will give his task force's recommendations to President Obama by Tuesday. After hearing some of the options the panel is contemplating, the NRA "rejected the effort to limit ammunition and dug in on its opposition to an assault weapons ban," the AP reports.
The gun owners' group later leveled its charge of an attack on gun owners' rights, releasing a statement that concluded, "We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and madmen. Instead, we will now take our commitment and meaningful contributions to members of Congress of both parties who are interested in having an honest conversation about what works - and what does not."
