The National Rifle Association and other gun groups have undertaken a huge media blitz to counter President Barack Obama's executive actions on guns announced earlier this month.
“The Gun Owners of America is rallying the grassroots in opposition to the president’s unlawful executive actions," Erich Pratt, the group's executive director, told Newsmax.
He said the organization would work through "social media, email alerts and our website at gunowners.org.
"Our hope is to produce enough pressure that either the president backs off of his plans to restrict Second Amendment rights — as he did last year when he withdrew the ban on ‘green tip’ ammunition — or we generate so much momentum that the next president is compelled to rescind Obama’s unlawful decrees during the first week in office," Pratt said.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents the firearms and ammunition industry, is also part of the campaign,
The Hill reports.
In an emotional news conference at the White House earlier this month,
Obama announced his actions, which include tighter federal background checks on gun sales and expanded mental health treatment.
The directives also require gun sellers to be licensed or face criminal prosecution.
President Obama then followed up his announcement with a televised town hall meeting on guns hosted by CNN.
The NRA refused to participate in the session, held at George Mason University in Northern Virginia, calling it "a public-relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House."
Likewise for the Gun Owners of America, with Pratt telling Newsmax that "there is no reasoning with the president."
Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president, immediately lashed out at Obama's actions, accusing American politicians of refusing to implement such "common-sense gun laws" as strengthening the national background checks system and posting armed security guards in schools.
Last week, LaPierre challenged Obama to a "one-on-one, one-hour debate, with a mutually agreed-upon moderator, on any network that will take it."
The NRA's campaign included a video released this week warning that the White House was planning to implement an "Australian-style" gun confiscation move that would force hunters and other law-abiding Americans to turn in their weapons, the Hill reports.
Australia's mandatory buyback program began in the late 1990s, in the wake of a mass shooting that killed 35 people, according to the report. The government obtained 650,000 guns.
The video features Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton praising Australia's program as a "good example" that is "worth considering," the Hill reports. It also includes Obama belittling such concerns at the town hall.
"When they’re talking about Australia, they’re talking about bans and confiscation," the video says.
The GOA has relied heavily on email blasts and media interviews — including a heated session with CNN anchor Carol Costello — to call on voters to pressure legislators to reverse Obama's actions.
"Obama has declared war on gun owners,"
one of the group's emails says. " It’s now time to strike back."