WASHINGTON (AFP) - The top United States (US) gun lobby group on Thursday accused the White House of caring more about ending gun rights than protecting children, after its representative met Vice-President Joe Biden.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) representative met Mr Biden along with other firearms lobby groups as part of the vice president's search for policies to curb gun violence in the US after a spate of mass shootings.

"We attended today's White House meeting to discuss how to keep our children safe and were prepared to have a meaningful conversation about school safety, mental health issues, the marketing of violence to our kids and the collapse of federal prosecutions of violent criminals," the NRA said in a statement.

"We were disappointed with how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment," the NRA said in a statement.

"While claiming that no policy proposals would be 'prejudged,' this task force spent most of its time on proposed restrictions on lawful firearms owners - honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans.

"It is unfortunate that this administration continues to insist on pushing failed solutions to our nation's most pressing problems. We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and madmen."

The White House gave few details of the meeting, other than the fact that it lasted 95 minutes, and officials would not comment on the NRA statement.