President Obama fired blanks on the issue of gun control in the State of the Union — barely even mentioning one of the hottest issues leading up to his final address.
But that didn’t stop the NRA from quickly whining about the one innocuous comment Obama made about America’s gun scourge.
HERE IS A TRANSCRIPT OF BARACK OBAMA’S FINAL STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
The hour-long address included just one reference to firearms, with Obama saying America must work on “protecting our kids from gun violence.” Otherwise, he avoided the issue — one of several surprise sidesteps in a short speech that overlooked several anticipated talking points.
Gun control was widely believed to be a central focus of the president’s last address. Just one week ago, Obama announced executive actions on gun control, shooting back at GOP pols resisting any attempt to curb gun violence.
OPTOMISTIC OBAMA TOUTS PROGRESS IN FINAL STATE OF THE UNION
The White House also announced it would leave one seat at the address empty, for “the victims of gun violence.”
The NRA was ready to fire back at Obama’s expected comments, saying it would have some sort of rebuttal to the State of the Union ready for Wednesday morning.
Turns out the group couldn’t even wait that long. It jumped the gun with two weapon-loving tweets during the speech.
“THESE seats are protected by armed security,” one tweet said, showing a picture of the House chamber.
The other tweet took issue with Obama saying children should be protected.
“FYI The #NRA believes we should protect our kids the same way we protect our presidents, athletes, celebrities, etc: armed guards #SOTU,” it said.