Pro-Obama group pushes president’s gun control agenda

Organizing for Action (OFA), the group descended from the Obama for America campaign organization, will press lawmakers on Friday to back President Obama’s proposals to reduce gun violence. 

OFA plans to host 100 events in 80 congressional districts aimed at urging lawmakers to back Obama’s gun proposals, the group announced Thursday.

{mosads}”These events range from Letter to the editor writing parties, or rallies and press events, to candle light vigils and petitions for members of Congress,” according to Organizing for America spokeswoman Katie Hogan. “These events were tailored by our supporters on what they thought was the best event for their community.”

Also on Friday, OFA is releasing its first online ad buy, which will focus on “members of Congress who have not yet publicly committed to support background checks.”

The effort, on the group’s first “National Day of Action” since it launched a month earlier, falls in line with the Obama administration’s push to enact new gun restrictions intended to prevent massacres similar to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December that left 20 children dead.

Since the shooting, Obama and a number of legislators, including a few with “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association have called for “action” to reduce gun violence. But not all of those legislators necessarily back all of Obama’s proposals for reducing gun violence.

Obama wants Congress to pass legislation introducing universal background checks for gun purchasers and reinstating a federal ban on assault weapons.

On Thursday, 19 House Democrats introduced legislation that would put a 10 percent tax on concealable guns. The money from this tax would be used to fund federal grants for programs that buy guns back from owners.