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The National Rifle Association came out firing Thursday after meeting with Vice President Biden on curbing gun violence, calling the sitdown worthless and vowing to thwart new gun laws in Congress.
The politically powerful lobbying group issued a scathing statement accusing the White House of waging war on the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms.
“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,” the NRA said. “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.”
The 90-minute, closed-door sitdown between Biden and gun-owner groups headlined a day of meetings convened by the vice president’s task force to develop a plan to curb gun violence.
Biden announced that he will present President Obama with a package of proposals by Tuesday - a month and day after the deadly shooting rampage at a Newtown, Conn., grade shool galvanized the White House into action.
There has got to be some common ground - to not solve every problem but diminish the probability" of mass killings like the rampage in Newtown, Biden said. "There is nothing that has gone to the heart of the matter more than the visual image people have of little 6-year-old kids riddled - not shot with a stray bullet - riddled, riddled, with bullet holes in their classroom," Biden said.
As Biden spoke, a teacher and a student were shot and wounded at a high school in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
The injured student was in critical condition and another student was taken into custody.
White House officials said the vice president didn’t expect to win over the NRA and other gun groups. But the administration was hoping to soften their opposition in order to rally support from pro-gun lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Complaining that Biden and his task force spent most of the closed-door meeting on "proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners," the NRA declared that it "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."
The statement, to which Biden's office refused to respond, amounted to a declaration from the gun owners' group that it will end its grudging dialogue with the White House and work with allies in Congress to block new gun controls.
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