President Barack Obama participated in a town hall event on the campus of George Mason University on Thursday night in which pushed for strict gun control.
The format of the CNN-sponsored town hall — hosted by Anderson Cooper — was discussion-based and was advertised as featuring questions from the audience.
However, the carefully-staged town hall event was closed to the actual general public. Admission was by invitation only, reports Campus Reform.
“This is an invitation-only event. No tickets are available,” George Mason spokeswoman Renell Wynn wrote in a campus-wide email. “The event is not open to the public.”
Students involved in George Mason’s College Republicans were disappointed about the inaccessible town hall. “[M]any have been led to believe it’s open,” members of the campus GOP group lamented on Facebook.
Devon Flynn, chairman of George Mason’s College Republicans, spoke to Campus Reform.
“Obama said this was a town hall to address questions that many Americans want answers to, not just a bunch of gun control advocates agreeing with president Obama,” Flynn said.
“During his speech he talked about bipartisan support, and having everyone come together to fix the problem so why would he hand pick attendees?” Flynn also said.
Flynn said he called school officials in an effort to attend the town hall before he knew it was elite, invite-only affair.
“I was told that it is closed to the public and is selected from the White House and CNN,” Flynn told Campus Reform.
The College Republicans organized a protest outside the closed town hall venue instead, “to support the Second Amendment and oppose President Obama’s anti-gun agenda.”
The National Rifle Association declined an invitation to participate in the closed town hall.
At the CNN town hall on guns, Obama made the claim that, in some neighborhoods around the country, it is easier and cheaper to buy a gun than it is a book. (RELATED: Obama: It’s Easier And Cheaper For Some 12-Year-Olds To Get A Gun Than A Book)
“There are a whole bunch of law abiding citizens who have grown up hunting with their dads or going to the shooting range and are responsible gun owners,” the president said. “And then there’s the reality there are neighborhoods around the country where it is easier for a 12 or 13 year old to purchase a gun, and cheaper, than it is for them to get a book.”
Obama made a similar claim in March 2015, only citing vegetables, not books.
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