Barack Obama slams gun lobby 'fiction', seeks support for gun control

President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama tore into the nation’s largest gun lobby on Thursday as he sought support for his actions on gun control, accusing the National Rifle Association of peddling an “imaginary fiction” that has distorted the national debate about gun violence.

In a televised townhall meeting on CNN, Obama faced a range of audience questions from people across the spectrum, from a rape survivor who wanted to be reassured that she would still be able to protect herself, to a sheriff who wanted to know if he would be able to enforce the law, to Mark Kelly, the husband of Gabrielle Giffords, the representative who was shot in Arizona in an attack that killed six people.

The president’s cool demeanor frayed only once – when challenged over his use of the term “conspiracy” when discussing whether his government wanted to take people’s guns from them. “Yes! I think it’s fair to call it a conspiracy!” he said.

He blamed that notion on the NRA and like-minded groups that convince its members that “somebody’s going to come grab your guns”.

“I’m only going to be here for another year,” Obama said. “When would I have started on this enterprise?”

“It continues to haunt me, it was one of the worst days of my presidency,” Obama said of the attack on Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, in which 20 children and six adults died.

“I visited Newtown two days after what happened so it was still very raw. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen secret service cry on duty.”

Obama told the townhall meeting at George Mason University, Virginia – in an echo of a column for the New York Times published on Thursday – that he would not campaign for any candidate, even within his own party, who did not back gun reforms.

“All of us need to demand leaders brave enough to stand up to the gun lobby’s lies,” he wrote.