The National Rifle Association emerged from its meeting with Vice President Joe Biden Thursday with a predictably negative impression.
"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,” the NRA said.
This column predicted just such an outcome earlier. Biden held off meeting with firearms organizations – with notably the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms not invited to the table – until after he had met with anti-gun groups.
In a statement following the meeting, the NRA noted that, “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.”
Thje statement was picked up by several news organizations including the Weekly Standard, MSNBC and the Daily Caller.
“While claiming that no policy proposals would be ‘prejudged’,” the NRA statement said, “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.”
NRA was represented at the meeting by James Jay Baker, former executive director of the Institute for Legislative Action who now works in the federal affairs division.
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