Thursday while President Barack Obama was hosting a town hall in Fairfax, VA broadcasted on CNN about his gun policy, Chris Cox, the executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, reacted to Obama’s effort on Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File.”

Cox downplayed the town hall and said Obama was not being forthright with his intentions.

“Let’s be clear what this is really about,” Cox said. “This president is trying to create an illusion that he’s doing something to keep people safe. He needs to do that because the truth is his policies have failed miserably. We saw that materialize itself in San Bernardino when we had a terrorist attack. This president didn’t use it as an opportunity to unite this country. He didn’t use it as an opportunity to lay out a plan to defeat terrorism. He used it as an opportunity to impose more gun control on law-abiding Americans.

Cox next explained to host Megyn Kelly why his organization declined an invitation to participate in the town hall, which he claimed was a result of being allowed to only ask one pre-screened question of the president.

“This is an attempt to distract the American people away from his failed policies,” Cox explained. “So did we participate in CNN’s event tonight? No, we didn’t. We were offered one pre-screened question. Megyn, I know that you don’t send your questions over to the White House so I would rather have a conversation with you that’s intellectually honest than sit through a lecture and get one opportunity to ask a pre-screened question.”

Despite Obama having said he would be willing to meet with the NRA in his town hall, Cox dismissed that possibility.

“This president can talk about background checks all day long. But that’s nothing more than a distraction away from the fact that he can’t keep us safe and he supported every gun control proposal that’s ever been made,” he added. “He doesn’t support the individual right to own a firearm. That’s been the position of his Supreme Court nominees. That’s been the position of his administration. So what are we going to talk about, basketball? I’m not really interested in going over and talking to the president who doesn’t have a basic level of respect or understanding of the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners in this country.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor