Newtown School Shooting Was Worst Day Of My Presidency, Says Obama
President Obama went on Meet the Press this morning to push for new gun control laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting earlier this month.
Obama called the shooting the “worst day of his presidency” and said that he wanted to make sure that an event like that never happens again in the United States.
“This is something that, you know, that was the worst day of my presidency. And it’s not something that I want to see repeated.”
Obama told NBC’s David Gregory that the nation was forced to do some soul searching after the Sandy Hook shooting and that he hopes that America is ready to make a fundamental change.
“I think anybody who was up in Newtown, who talked to the parents, who talked to the families understands that something fundamental in America has to change. And all of us have to do some soul searching, including me as president, that we allow a situation in which 20 precious small children are getting gunned down in a classroom.”
The United States has experienced several school shootings in its history and there has been plenty of talk about changing gun laws. The president told Gregory that it was time to stop talking about changing the laws and actually take action.
Obama said:
“The question then becomes whether we are actually shook up enough by what happened here that it does not just become another one of these routine episodes where it gets a lot of attention for a couple of weeks and then it drifts away.”
The President said that he wanted to ban assault weapons and high-capacity clips. He also wants to require background checks at gun shows. The one thing the president didn’t want to see was more guns in schools.
The President of the NRA suggested after the shooting that the only way to stop these tragedies was to place armed guards in schools. Obama said that he did not want to go that direction.
Obama said:
“I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools, and I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem.”
