"American Sniper" widow Taya Kyle confronted U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday, telling him why she opposes his recent gun control executive orders.
Kyle was one of those who attended the President's CNN townhall event at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
"You talk about the [National Rifle Association] and how after a mass shooting that gun sales go up. I would argue that it's not necessarily that I think someone is going to take my gun from me, it's that I have the hope, the hope that I can protect myself ... that I have the freedom to carry whatever weapon I think I need," she told Obama.
The gun-rights advocate argued that criminals do not follow the law and cited the recent mass shootings including the San Bernardino, California attack that would not have been prevented by his 10 executive orders.
Kyle said a background check would not have stopped the gunmen, WND reported.
"The people who are murdering are breaking the law, but they also don't have the moral code that we have. So they can do the same amount of damage with a pipe bomb. The problem is that they want to murder," she said.
Obama replied that he was grateful for her late husband's service. Former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield were ambushed on Feb. 2, 2013, at a Texas gun range by PTSD-afflicted Eddie Ray Routh.
A jury convicted Rough in February last year and sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
"What you said about murder rates and violent crime generally is something we don't celebrate enough. The fact of the matter is that violent crime has been steadily declining across America for a pretty long time. And you wouldn't always know it from watching television," Obama said.
He said he's not sure if there's a "one-to-one correlation" between increasing gun sales and decreasing murder rates because "if you look at the where the areas are with the highest gun ownership, those are the places that the crime hasn't dropped down that much."
Obama admitted that even with the latest gun control measures, Americans will still be able to purchase a firearm and that "some criminals will [still] get their hands on firearms even if there is a background check."
In her op-ed piece for CNN, Kyle wrote, "I have been touched by extreme violence and I have been robbed of the life I always wanted by someone who chose to do evil. Because I have felt, and lived, all of these things, I have spent much time thinking about evil, freedom and not only the world we live in, but the country too."
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch answered Kyle's question on Tuesday.
"The goal is keeping bad actors away from firearms," Lynch said after the President changed the way gun sales are monitored and carried out.
Obama's new gun control measures redefined a gun "dealer" to include many people who sell even a single gun annually.
