Americans “sitting around the Thanksgiving table” this week ought to discuss Republicans’ failure to pass a law preventing anyone on a government watch list from buying a gun, the White House urged today.

Speaking this afternoon at the daily White House press briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest attacked Republicans for focusing on the threat from Syrian refugees instead of taking action on gun control.

“The fact is, the reason the president continues to support the refugee program is that individuals who enter the United States as a refugee are subjected to more screening, and more vetting than anybody else who enters the United States,” Earnest said. “These are individuals who had already been vetted by the United Nations for consideration in this program.”

“If we’re going to have a serious discussion about national security, let’s talk about some pretty obvious things that Congress could do,” he continued. “One obvious thing that Congress can do is pass a law that prevents someone who is on the terror watch list from being able to buy a weapon. There’s no reason — I’m not sure why that’s even controversial. I’m not sure why it hasn’t been done so far. I suspect, however, that has a lot to do with the fear the Republicans have of the NRA.”

— Tom S. Elliott is the founder and editor of Grabien.