Town hall meetings have traditionally been open to the public as a way to give all stakeholders the opportunity to make their voices heard. But in the case of Obama’s gun-control town hall event yesterday at George Mason University, it was made clear to the public—including students at the university—that they were not welcome.
According to RedAlertPolitics.com, students received an email stating, “This is an invitation-only event. No tickets are available.” The email then informed them that the entire building hosting the event would be closed, before reiterating, “The event is not open to the public.”
The student who submitted the email, John Hill, speculated that the closed-door policy was a result of the president not wanting to answer the hard questions about gun control. We’re inclined to agree. If the president really believed his gun-control policies had any chance of success, he wouldn’t be afraid to open the debate to both sides.