Barack Obama's gun-control town hall: 6 key moments

U.S. PresidentBarackObamaspoke tearfully to the American people on Tuesday about the heartache and frustrations he has encountered while trying to stem gun-related massacres across the U.S.

Face-to-face in a room with the president on Thursday, some of his opponents had the opportunity to talk back.

Two days after he outlined new measures to curb mass shootings in the most heavilyarmed nation in the world,Obamaparticipated in an invitation-only town hall forum on firearms reforms.

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The live CNN broadcast, Guns in America, gave gun-control supporters and challengers aprime-timeopportunity to grill the president.Atissue: How best to balance the right to bear arms with the danger posed to the public of owning firearms.

Not everyone was wholly supportive ofObama'sproposed executive actions to prevent further shooting tragedies through higher regulations. Here are six salient moments from the meeting:

OnObama'spersonal experience with firearms

"I have never owned a gun. Up at Camp David, we've got some skeet shooting, so on a regular basis we get a 12-gauge, and I'm not making any claims about my marksmanship,"Obamasaid.

More revealing was an anecdote the president told of his wife's expression of interest in owning a gun during an Iowa campaign stop in the lead-up to the 2008 presidential election.

Obama's personal experience with firearm

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The president said he has never owned a gun, but related an anecdote during the 2008 White House campaign in which his wife said she could foresee owning one in certain situations

"Michelle and I are then campaigning in Iowa. And we're going to farms and we're going to counties, and at one point Michelle turned to me and said to me, you know, if I was living in farmhouse where the sheriff's department is pretty far away and somebody can just turn off the highway and come up to the farm, I'd want to have a shotgun or a rifle to make sure I was protected and my family was protected. And she's absolutely right."

An invitation to the NRA

The National Rifle Association's absence from the town hall was notedmore than once. The pro-gun group declined an invitation to the town hall, butObamamade it clear he was willing to open lines of dialogue on the gun-reforms issue at the White House.

Obama's invitation to the NRA

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The National Rifle Association declined an invitation to the town hall, but Obama made it clear he was willing to open lines of dialogue on the gun-reforms issue at the White House

"They're just down the street,"Obamanoted.

"I've said this repeatedly, I'm happy to meet with them, I'm happy to talk to them, but the conversation has to be based on facts and truth and what we're proposing. Not some imaginary fiction in which Obama's trying to take away our guns."

KimberlyCorbanand 'good guys with guns'

Rape survivor KimberlyCorban, a college student in 2006 when she was attacked by a man who broke into her apartment, said her views on gun ownership changed after being victimized by an intruder.

Kimberly Corban and good guys with guns

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Rape survivor Kimberly Corban presses the president on whether his executive actions would make it more difficult for her to own a weapon for self-protection

"Being able to purchase a firearm of my choosing seems like my basic responsibility as a parent,"CorbantoldObama, accusing the president of proposing firearms regulations that would make it more difficult for her to obtain a weapon for protecting herself and her children.

Obamaresponded that none of the measures he's proposing would, in theory, add barriers to her gun ownership.

"There are always questions as to whether or not having a firearm in the home protects you from that kind of violence," he added. "What is true is that you have to be pretty well-trained in order to fire a weapon against somebody who is assaulting you, and catches you by surprise. And what is also true is there's always possibility that firearm in a home leads to a tragic accident."

On the gun-control 'conspiracy'

At one point, the president appeared befuddled by a question from CNN mediator Anderson Cooper, who asked if it was "fair" forObamato dismiss notions that he wants to "take guns away from Americans" as a conspiracy.

On the gun-control conspiracy

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CNN host Anderson Cooper drew the ire of the president when he asked whether it was 'fair' to dismiss Republican characterizations of his on gun-reform stance as a 'conspiracy'

"Yes, I'm sorry, Cooper. Yes it is fair to call it a 'conspiracy,'"Obamasnapped back, drawing laughter and applause.

"Are you suggesting that the notion that we are creating a plot to take everybody's guns away so that we can impose martial law is a conspiracy? Yes that is a conspiracy, I would hope that you would agree with that. Is that controversial?"

Criticism from a sheriff

Sheriff PaulBabeufromPinalCounty in Arizona pointed out that none of the measures outlined by the president as part of his proposed executive actions would have prevented the recent mass shootings.

Cooper added that none of the guns in recent mass shootings were purchased from non-licensed dealers.

Criticism from a sheriff

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Sheriff Paul Babeu from Pinal County in Arizona points out that none of the measures outlined by the president as part of his proposed executive actions would have prevented the recent mass shootings

Babeu, who has been telling citizens to arm themselves for protection, asked the president how he would get would-be assailants or terrorists to follow the laws.

"It's important not to suggest that if we can't solve every crime, we shouldn't solve any crime,"Obamaanswered, noting that AdamLanza, the gunman in theNewtown schoolmassacre never had a criminal record.

"But he was able to have access to an arsenal that allowed him in very short order to kill an entire classroom of small children. And so the question then becomes, are there ways for us to make it less lethal when something like this happens?"

A cameo from GabbyGiffords

A cameo from Gabby Giffords

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Duration 2:09

Former Democratic representative Gabrielle Giffords, wounded in a 2011 shooting, stood with husband Mark Kelly as he asked Obama a question during the town hall

Thursday's town hall at George Mason University also marked the five-year anniversary of the shooting and wounding of thenDemocratic representative GabrielleGiffordsat a political event in Arizona.

During the town hall, Giffords stood by her husband, Mark Kelly, as he drolly requested thatObamaparse the logic behind how a supposedly "tyrannical" government could confiscate firearms from a nation with 350 million guns.

"Every time I see Gabby I'm just so thrilled because I visited her in the hospital," Obama said. "And as I mentioned in a speechas we left the hospital to go to the memorial service [for the 2011 Arizona shooting victims], we got word thatGabbyhad opened her eyes for the first time."