President Obama Just Made An Extremely Honest Point About Gun Control
President Obama looked visibly shaken as he spoke about the shooting at UCC on Thursday evening. He noted he's had to give press conferences on similar incidents far too many times, a powerful reminder little has changed in this country in regard to gun violence.
This is at least the 15th time that President Obama has given remarks on a mass shooting. He says he can't guarantee it will be his last. — Gregory Korte (@gregorykorte) October 1, 2015
It's easy to understand why the president appeared so distraught. There have been 142 school shootings since Sandy Hook -- and 45 this year alone -- but what have we done about it as a society?
"We are the only advanced country on Earth that sees these kind of mass shootings every few months." - @POTUS #UCCShooting — Elite Daily (@EliteDaily) October 1, 2015
"What's become routine is those who oppose any kind of common sense gun legislation." - @POTUS on #UCCShooting — Elite Daily (@EliteDaily) October 1, 2015
"This is something that we should politicize... It is relevant to our common life together." - @POTUS on #UCCShooting — Elite Daily (@EliteDaily) October 1, 2015
"There is a gun for roughly every man, woman, and child in America." - @POTUS on #UCCShooting — Elite Daily (@EliteDaily) October 1, 2015
"We have a Congress that explicitly blocks us from even collecting data on how we could potentially reduce gun deaths." @POTUS #UCCShooting — Elite Daily (@EliteDaily) October 1, 2015
"We know that states with the most guns laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths” - @POTUS #UCCShooting — Elite Daily (@EliteDaily) October 1, 2015
"If you think this is a problem, then you should expect your elected officials to reflect your views." - @POTUS #UCCShooting — Elite Daily (@EliteDaily) October 1, 2015
In what was perhaps his most powerful point, President Obama made it clear that gun violence in America is on all of us. Preventing future shootings is our collective responsibility.
"We collectively are responsible to those families because of our inaction." President Obama #gunviolence — Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) October 1, 2015
Indeed, mass shootings are on the rise, but public opinion on gun control remains static even after such tragedies. It's no wonder more lawmakers don't push for common sense gun laws.
There's no simple solution to the issue of gun violence, but standing idly by and ignoring the problem certainly won't change anything.
Citations: School Shootings in America Since Sandy Hook (Everytown For Gun Safety), A year after Newtown little change in public opinion on guns (Pew Research Center), 11 essential facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States (Washington Post)
