National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre on Wednesday challenged President Barack Obama to a debate on guns, even though the organization declined a White House invitation to participate in a town hall discussion that aired last week on CNN.
Obama had said that the NRA turned down his offer to talk about guns. But LaPierre seemed to put the ball back in Obama’s court after he posted a web video saying that he wanted to debate Obama.
LaPierre said Obama gives “long-winded answers” to “pre-screened questions.”
“But I’ll tell you what,” he said in the video. “I’ll meet you for a one-on-one, one-hour debate—with a mutually agreed-upon moderator—on any network that will take it. No pre-screened questions and no gas-bag answers.”
The NRA had released a statement to CNN after declining the invitation.
“The National Rifle Association sees no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House,” said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam as quoted by CNN.
