Michael Hernandez
January 08, 2016•Update: January 08, 2016
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama on Thursday sought to highlight the potential benefits to recently announced executive gun control measures, while slamming "conspiracy" charges that he is taking away guns from law-abiding Americans.
“I think it’s very important for us not to suggest that if we can’t solve every crime we shouldn’t solve any crimes,” he said to audience applause during a primetime town hall forum hosted by CNN. “If we can combine gun safety with sensible background checks and some other steps, we're not going to eliminate gun violence, but we will lessen it.”
Earlier in the week, Obama unveiled new measures that expanded licensing for gun sellers, increased the scope of background checks and boosted mental health spending.
A recent CNN/ORC poll found broad support for the initiatives with more than two-thirds of Americans supporting his recent push to curb gun violence while just 32 percent oppose the measures.
The American president took special note of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the key pro-gun lobbying group – blasting their lack of participation in the discussion despite being invited.
"There's a reason why the NRA's not here. They're just down the street," Obama said, referring to the group’s headquarters located less than 5 miles (8 kilometers) from George Mason University where the debate took place. "Since this is a main reason they exist, you'd think that they'd be prepared to have a debate with the president."
The NRA responded on Twitter. “It’s true: None of the president’s orders would have stopped any of the recent mass shootings #GunsInAmerica.”
Obama strikingly dismissed claims that his efforts are a "conspiracy" to deprive people of their right to bear arms, saying “it is a false notion that I believe is circulated for either political reasons or commercial reasons in order to prevent a coming-together among people of goodwill to develop commonsense rules that will make us safer while preserving the Second Amendment.”
“The NRA has convinced many of its members that somebody's going to come grab your guns, which is by the way, really profitable for the gun manufacturers. It's a great advertising mechanism, but it's not necessary,” Obama added.
Kimberly Corban, a rape victim who has gone on to strongly support gun rights, challenged Obama during the public forum, saying that his new initiatives make it harder for her to protect her family.
"I have been unspeakably victimized once already, and I refuse to let that happen again to myself or my kids. So why can't your administration see that these restrictions that you're putting to make it harder for me to own a gun, or harder for me to take that where I need to be, is actually just making my kids and I less safe?" she asked.
"Your story is horrific," Obama said in response.
"There's nothing that we've proposed that would make it harder for you to purchase a firearm," he added.
