NRA Blasts White House And Biden's 'Attack' On Second Amendment: 'They Were Checking A Box'
In a statement released after the meeting, the NRA said that the meeting had little to do "with keeping our children safe" and was part of an "agenda to attack the Second Amendment."
Here's the NRA's full statement:
The National Rifle Association of America is made up of over 4 million moms and dads, daughters and sons, who are involved in the national conversation about how to prevent a tragedy like Newtown from ever happening again. We attended today's White House meeting to discuss how to keep our children safe and were prepared to have a meaningful conversation about school safety, mental health issues, the marketing of violence to our kids and the collapse of federal prosecutions of violent criminals.
We were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment. While claiming that no policy proposals would be “prejudged,” this Task Force spent most of its time on proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners - honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans. It is unfortunate that this Administration continues to insist on pushing failed solutions to our nation's most pressing problems. 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.
Earlier on Thursday, Biden said that he would present his recommendations on curbing gun violence to the President by next Thursday. He also outlined some of the proposals, some of which do not play well with the NRA.
Biden said that there were some recommendations that had come up repeatedly in his meetings with different groups — closing the so-called "gun show loophole" and instituting universal background checks. He also mentioned a possible limit on high-capacity magazines, as well as improving the "ability of any federal agency to do research on gun violence.
"I have a real very tight window to do this," he added. "The public wants us to act."
Biden also met with sporting groups earlier on Thursday to discuss combating gun violence. He will meet later Thursday evening with representatives of the entertainment industry.
UPDATE (6:55 p.m.): NRA President David Keene gave a similar take on the meeting while appearing tonight on CNN. He said that the White House and Biden, "in a sense, were checking a box" so that they could say they were reaching out to groups like the NRA. He said there was "no common ground" on guns between the two sides.
"We are not going to agree on these gun questions," he said.