Obama: NRA rejected invitations to the White House “repeatedly”

He also said he would “be happy” to meet with the National Rifle Association – which has vocally opposed to the president’s gun control proposals – and that he had invited them to the White House multiple times.

Then a toddler who finds a gun would not be able to accidentally kill a playmate: More than 20,000 children have been shot to death over the past decade, too many of them in accidents like this.

Obama said he visited Newtown two days after what happened. It voted down a sensible measure that would have banned gun sales to people whose names appear on federal terror watch lists.

“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”.

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandamb told CNN that the organisation saw “no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House”.

Gun enthusiasts said Obama’s order misses the mark when it comes to preventing another tragedy like at Columbine, Virginia Tech or Sandy Hook. He implied that the group didn’t want to work with him.

“Just to set the record straight”, Earnest said, “it’s actually hosted by CNN”.

Daily on the roads I see people breaking speed limits despite the possibility that cameras will catch them and send a ticket in the mail.

Obama took both congressional Republicans and the gun lobby to task for opposing measures like expanded background checks and insisted he is not trying to “take away everybody’s guns”.

“Rather than focus on criminals and terrorists, he goes after the most law-abiding of citizens”, said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin.

The president said this was a misconception, and blamed critics of gun control for having “mischaracterized” his position.

The executive orders also include provisions regarding firearm purchase background checks, increased mental health funding and additional resources for law enforcement. In 2015, there were some 372 mass shootings around the country. Still, there are steps we can take now to save lives.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump held a rally in Burlington, Vermont, at the same time as the forum and weighed in on the issue of firearms, attacking the idea of gun-free zones, though it wasn’t a topic raised by Obama or other participants Thursday night.