President Obama held a televised town-hall meeting on gun control Thursday — and was confronted on his efforts by the widow of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle.
Taya Kyle criticized Obama’s executive orders expanding background checks.
“I want the hope that I have the right to protect myself. That I don’t end up to be one of these families, that I have the freedom to carry whatever weapon I feel I need,” she said at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
“I know that background checks aren’t going to stop me from getting a gun.”
She said such a measure would not have stopped recent high-profile killings, noting “the people who are murdering are breaking the law. They don’t have the same moral code that we have.”
Chris Kyle, played by Bradley Cooper in “American Sniper,” served four tours as a Navy SEAL in Iraq but was slain by a disturbed man at a Texas gun range in 2013.
Obama, who shook Taya Kyle’s hand during a commercial break, blasted the NRA for not attending.
“They’re just down the street,” he said. “Since this is a main reason they exist, you’d think that they’d be prepared to have a debate with the president.”
Also attending were ex-Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot by a disturbed man in 2011, and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly. Both support Obama’s effort.
