Chris Cox, chief lobbyist for the NRA, met with Trump and the vice president on Thursday after which he took to his Twitter account claiming the president had changed his mind regarding Gun Control. This comes a day after the president publicly supported increased background checks and raising the age limit for purchasing some semi-automatic weapons.
White House fails to give details of the meeting
In his tweet, Chris stated he had a productive meeting with the president and vice president to which they agreed that even though they want safer schools and mental health reforms, they did not want gun control.
Chris also tweeted both the NRA and Trump support effective due process in spite of the president's remarks on Wednesday.
In response to Cox's tweet, Trump also tweeted confirming the meeting with the NRA lobbyist but failed to mention his current position on gun reforms. It is unclear where the president stands on the matter after failing to elaborate further on the meeting. Trump benefited from a 30 million dollars endorsement from the NRA during his candidacy for the presidency, and his televised remarks were met with a lot of backlash from NRA members.
I had a great meeting tonight with @realDonaldTrump & @VP. We all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control. #NRA #MAGA
— Chris Cox (@ChrisCoxNRA) March 2, 2018
Good (Great) meeting in the Oval Office tonight with the NRA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 2, 2018
Criticism from the NRA
Dana Loesch, the NRA spokeswoman, told Fox news Trump's remarks indeed made good TV but would make for bad policies.
Dana also said the NRA is going to protect the due process since disregarding it affects innocent Americans. David Kopel, a Benefactor Member of the NRA referred to the president's comments as an utter betrayal. The NRA was quick to push back against Trump on Wednesday.
Joe Biggs, an NRA member based in Texas, was quick to call the president's proposal ‘stupid' and hoped Trump was only having a momentary lapse of judgment.
He also added that he hoped someone pulled the president aside after the meeting and told him he had lost half of his support for making such remarks.
Robert McBride, another Texas-based beneficiary of the NRA was particularly troubled by the idea of disregarding the due process. He termed it as a violation of the 5th and 14th amendments which safeguards liberty, life, and property.
Robert was also cynical about raising the age limit for the purchase of semi-automatic weapons.
The president is yet to make a statement regarding the details of the meeting with the NRA lobbyist. Gun violence groups and the public had praised Trump for his stand on gun control with groups like Everytown for Gun Safety stating that the president had done the right thing which reassured the public following the tragedy in Florida.
