Biden says gun lobby’s depiction of Obama plan ‘a bunch of malarkey’

Vice President Biden said Monday that those who claimed the Obama administration was trying to take away guns from law-abiding citizens were spinning “a bunch of malarkey.”

“I know that’s a word you’ve never heard before, although it’s now in the dictionary,” Biden said at a roundtable discussion with law enforcement officers in Philadelphia. “That’s just simply not true. And to be very blunt with you, we’re counting on all of you, the legitimate news media, to cover these discussions because the truth is that times have changed.”

Republicans in Congress and members of the gun lobby have criticized the president's gun-control measures proposed last month as an attempt to encroach on Second Amendment rights.

"Law-abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violent or deranged criminals. Nor do we believe the government should dictate what we can lawfully own and use to protect our families," NRA executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said at Senate testimony late last month.

Biden also pledged to bring the fight to rural areas, where instances of gun violence were less frequent than in cities and the tradition of gun ownership is strong. The vice president said he had read reports in a local newspaper that the administration had not done enough to reach out to rural voters.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Biden said. “The one thing I want to make clear is this is, this message of rational gun safety is a message that will be embraced by rural communities as well as urban communities simply because it makes sense.”

In fact, Biden scheduled a sit-down interview with Field & Stream magazine later this week, with the sportsman’s publication soliciting readers to submit questions on the administration’s gun proposals.

In Philadelphia, the vice president insisted that “we cannot wait” to implement new controls, invoking those lost in the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shooting.

“The images of those innocent little children being riddled with bullet holes has gripped the conscience of a nation and the nation is demanding that we act responsibly,” Biden said.

President Obama has called for sweeping new gun controls in the wake of the December massacre that left 20 children and six staff members dead. The president has proposed a renewed assault weapons ban, limits on magazine capacities and universal background checks.

The White House is intensifying efforts to rally Americans for their plan this week, with a slate of events focused on gun control. President Obama will posthumously award the Presidential Citizens Medal on Friday to the six teachers and administrators who died in the Newtown shooting, and is scheduled to travel to Chicago on Friday for a public event on gun violence.

First lady Michelle Obama will reportedly host the mother of a slain Chicago teenager at Tuesday night’s State of the Union. The first lady attended the funeral of that girl, 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, over the weekend.

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