Pushing forward with the Obama administration’s gun control agenda, Vice President Joe Biden will reportedly meet with representatives from the National Rifle Association on Thursday, according to The Hill.
Examiner has learned that NRA will be represented by James Jay Baker, former executive director of the group's Institute for Legislative Action.
The Hill noted that on Wednesday, Biden will meet with “gun safety organizations” and shooting victims.
That may surprise many in the firearms community, because the NRA has long been known as the “Red Cross of firearms safety,” so one is left to wonder what other organization might claim to be more safety-oriented than the NRA. The NRA has thousands of certified volunteer firearms instructors, it originated the hunter education program in 1949 in New York State, and it annually conducts training programs for police and other professionals, and tens of thousands of private citizens.
The NRA firearms safety and training programs cover everything from basic home firearms safety to personal protection, range development and even a course for women called "Refuse to Be a Victim." NRA alkso created the award-winning "Eddie Eagle" program for youngsters that focuses on what to do if they find a firearm.
According to The Hill, an invitation was sent to the NRA last Friday, and spokesman Andrew Arulanandam confirmed that the invitation had been accepted.
Biden, who has boasted that he authored the anti-gun Brady Law, was put in charge of a task force on violence following the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Connecticut last month. He will also reportedly meet Thursday with sportsmen who “use guns recreationally.”
Arulanandam said the NRA will attend “to hear what they have to say.”
Gun owners have already heard quite a bit about what President Obama has on his mind, as this column reported. Likewise, they have heard that the president will support legislation proposed by anti-gun Sen. Diane Feinstein, who will introduce her measure on Jan. 22.
What many in the firearms community consider a frontal assault on their Second Amendment rights began barely hours after the Sandy Hook tragedy was played out, when New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg moved swiftly to capitalize on the incident to push his gun control agenda. Some gun rights leaders, including Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, responded, and the verbal battle has been going on ever since.
Obama wants Biden’s task force to report on its activities sometime this month.
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