President Barack Obama is exploiting the San Bernardino shootings to push for more gun control — even though California has the toughest anti-weapons laws in the United States, Chris Cox of the National Rifle Association stated on Friday.
"The NRA is calling on the president to stop exploiting tragedies to push his failed political agenda," Cox, executive director of the organization's Institute for Legislative Action, wrote in a op-ed piece
in USA Today. "It's shameful.
"Given the reality that he's unlikely to listen, however, we will continue to stand and fight for law-abiding gun owners who are both disgusted and heartbroken by these heinous acts — whether committed by madmen, gang members or terrorists," he continued. "The NRA will neither accept the blame for the acts of murderers, nor apologize for fighting for our right to defend ourselves against them."
The Golden State has adopted President Obama's gun-control "wish list," Cox wrote. They include universal background checks, registration, waiting periods, gun bans, magazine bans, and an expansion of prohibited gun categories.
"But those laws did nothing to prevent this horrific crime from taking place," he wrote.
"Nothing.
"America’s law-abiding gun owners are heartbroken by these horrific crimes as well," Cox added. "At the same time, we are sick and tired of this president suggesting the men and women of the National Rifle Association are somehow to blame.
"The National Rifle Association is not to blame. Neither is our Second Amendment freedom.
"An act of evil unfolded in California," Cox writes. "President Obama used it not as a moment to inform or calm the American people; rather, he exploited it to push his gun-control agenda.
"Policy discussions should be intellectually honest and based on facts, not politics."
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