WASHINGTON — The defiant president of the National Rifle Association boldly boasted yesterday that an assault-weapons ban does not have enough support to pass Congress and fingered Democrats as the drivers of gun sales.
“When a president takes all the power of his office, . . . you don’t want to make predictions,” said NRA President David Keene. “But I would say . . . they are not going to be able to get [this passed.]
“The two people who were selling so-called assault rifles are Senator [Dianne] Feinstein and President Obama,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” referring to a rush on gun purchases that has been made in the run-up to a gun-control plan that Vice President Joe Biden will deliver to President Obama tomorrow.
“They’re the ones scaring people, not us.”
But former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, a Republican, said he backs gun-control measures that include universal background checks and gun registration.
“With respect to assault weapons, I see no need for Bushmasters in the hands of an individual person who might be deranged,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”