WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the National Rifle Association is suggesting the group has enough support in Congress to fend off legislation to ban sales of assault weapons.
David Keene told NBC's "Today" show that he doesn't think such a ban is going to get the votes it would need. He also said there's a fundamental disagreement over what would actually make a difference in curbing gun violence.
The NRA was one of the pro-gun rights groups that met yesterday with Vice President Joe Biden, who is putting together the administration's response to last month's massacre at a Connecticut elementary school. The NRA yesterday rejected administration proposals to limit high-capacity ammunition magazines, while also digging in its heels against an assault weapons ban, which President Barack Obama has said he will propose to Congress.
Today, Biden is meeting with representatives of the video game industry.
Biden has said he will have a set of recommendations for Obama by Tuesday. He said that won't be "the end of the discussion," but that "the public wants us to act."
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114-c-21-(Mark Smith, AP White House correspondent)-"would-be gun owners"-AP White House Correspondent Mark Smith reports Biden's task force is meeting today with representatives of the video game industry. (11 Jan 2013)
<<CUT *114 (01/11/13)>> 00:21 "would-be gun owners"
115-c-18-(Mark Smith, AP White House correspondent)-"criminals and madmen"-AP White House Correspondent Mark Smith reports the National Rifle Association, which met with Biden yesterday, is blasting the task force effort. (11 Jan 2013)
<<CUT *115 (01/11/13)>> 00:18 "criminals and madmen"
GRAPHICSBANK: Joseph Biden headshot, as US Vice President, during meeting to discuss violence prevention, Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Washington, DC, graphic element on gray (10 Jan 2013)
APPHOTO DCSW101: Vice President Joe Biden, center, gestures as he speaks during a meeting with Sportsmen and Women and Wildlife Interest Groups and member of his cabinet, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. Biden is holding a series of meetings this week as part of the effort he is leading to develop policy proposals in response to the Newtown, Conn., school shooting (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (10 Jan 2013)
<<APPHOTO DCSW101 (01/10/13)>>
APPHOTO RPDR101: In this Jan. 4, 2013 photo Dina Kuhl sells firearms at a gun show organized by Marv Kraus Promotions in Evansville, Wis. The same promoter was scheduled to hold another gun show at a Cornell, Wis., high school on Jan. 12 and 13, a venue that didn't seem to faze residents of a state where the gun and hunting cultures run deep. (AP Photo/Dinesh Ramde) (4 Jan 2013)
<<APPHOTO RPDR101 (01/04/13)>>
