The Obama administration is calling together both the gun lobby and gun safety groups to find common ground, but President Obama has no plans to take the lead in proposing further gun control legislation, and the National Rifle Association is snubbing the invitation, reports the New York Times. Justice Department officials today meet with gun control advocates in the first of a series of meetings over the next two weeks with people on different sides of the issue, including law enforcement, retailers, and manufacturers, to seek agreement on possible legislative or administrative actions.
“Why should I or the NRA go sit down with a group of people that have spent a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment in the United States?” said NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre. He cited Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder. “It shouldn't be a dialogue about guns; it really should be a dialogue about dangerous people,” LaPierre said, saying that the NRA supports proposals to prevent gun sales to the mentally ill, strengthen a national system of background checks, and encourage states to provide needed data.