National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre will offer his response to President Obama's State of the Union address on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 5:15 p.m. ET at the 37th Annual National Wild Turkey Federation Convention and Sport Show in Nashville, Tenn.
LaPierre and the NRA have been critical of the administration's proposals to curb gun violence.
On Tuesday night, the NRA released a Web video criticizing the president's push for new gun legislation, including bans on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and instituting mandatory background checks.
The nation’s largest gun lobby argued that the proposals would lead to “confiscation” of citizens’ firearms.
“President Obama gives a good speech, and when you listen him talk about new gun laws, you may think he sounds reasonable,” says NRA Executive Director Chris Cox in the ad. “But what happens when you look at the details behind the president’s policies? How would they actually work?”
In his State of the Union speech, Obama implored lawmakers to pass new laws to stem gun violence, claiming the Newtown, Conn., shooting massacre had changed the debate in this country.
"It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different," Obama said.
Among the dozens of victims of gun violence who attended the address to the nation on Tuesday were the parents of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old Chicago girl who was killed in a shooting days after she performed during Obama's inaugural festivities.
After the president's inaugural address last month, LaPierre warned that Obama's agenda threatened to make a “mockery” of the nation’s constitutional freedoms.
“In his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama quoted the Declaration of Independence and he talked about 'unalienable rights,' " LaPierre said during a speech in Reno, Nev. “I would argue that his words make a mockery of both.”
