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REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND THE VICE PRESIDENT
ON GUN VIOLENCE
South Court Auditorium
11:52 A.M. EST
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Before I begin today, let
me say to the families of the innocents who were murdered 33 days ago,
our heart goes out to you. And you show incredible courage --
incredible courage -- being here. And the President
and I are going to do everything in our power to honor the memory of
your children and your wives with the work we take up here today.
It's been 33 days since the nation's heart was
broken by the horrific, senseless violence that took place at Sandy
Hook Elementary School -- 20 -- 20 beautiful first-graders gunned down
in a place that's supposed to be their second
sanctuary. Six members of the staff killed trying to save those
children. It's literally been hard for the nation to comprehend, hard
for the nation to fathom.
And I know for the families who are here that
time is not measured in days, but it's measured in minutes, in seconds,
since you received that news. Another minute without your daughter.
Another minute without your son. Another minute
without your wife. Another minute without your mom.
I want to personally thank Chris and Lynn
McDonald, who lost their beautiful daughter, Grace, and the other
parents who I had a chance to speak to, for their suggestions and for --
again, just for the courage of all of you to be here
today. I admire the grace and the resolve that you all are showing.
And I must say I've been deeply affected by your faith, as well. And
the President and I are going to do everything to try to match the
resolve you've demonstrated.
No one can know for certain if this senseless
act could have been prevented, but we all know we have a moral
obligation -- a moral obligation -- to do everything in our power to
diminish the prospect that something like this could
happen again.
As the President knows, I've worked in this
field a long time -- in the United States Senate, having chaired a
committee that had jurisdiction over these issues of guns and crime, and
having drafted the first gun violence legislation
-- the last gun violence legislation, I should say. And I have no
illusions about what we're up against or how hard the task is in front
of us. But I also have never seen the nation's conscience so shaken by
what happened at Sandy Hook. The world has changed,
and it's demanding action.
It's in this context that the President asked
me to put together, along with Cabinet members, a set of recommendations
about how we should proceed to meet that moral obligation we have. And
toward that end, the Cabinet members and
I sat down with 229 groups -- not just individuals, representing groups
-- 229 groups from law enforcement agencies to public health officials,
to gun officials, to gun advocacy groups, to sportsmen and hunters and
religious leaders. And I've spoken with
members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, had extensive
conversations with mayors and governors and county officials.
And the recommendations we
provided to the President on Monday call for executive actions he could
sign, legislation he could call for, and long-term research that should
be undertaken. They're based on the emerging
consensus we heard from all the groups with whom we spoke, including
some of you who are victims of this god-awful occurrence -- ways to keep
guns out of the wrong hands, as well as ways to take comprehensive
action to prevent violence in the first place.
We should do as much as we
can, as quickly as we can. And we cannot let the perfect be the enemy
of the good. So some of what you will hear from the President will
happen immediately; some will take some time.
But we have begun. And we are starting here today and we're going to
resolve to continue this fight.
During the meetings that we held, we met with a
young man who's here today -- I think Colin Goddard is here. Where are
you, Colin? Colin was one of the survivors of the Virginia Tech
massacre. He was in the classroom. He calls
himself one of the "lucky seven." And he'll tell you he was shot four
times on that day and he has three bullets that are still inside him.
And when I asked Colin
about what he thought we should be doing, he said, "I'm not here because
of what happened to me. I'm here because of what happened to me keeps
happening to other people and we have to do something
about it."
Colin, we will. Colin, I
promise you, we will. This is our intention. We must do what we can
now. And there's no person who is more committed to acting on this
moral obligation we have than the President of
the United States of America.
Ladies and gentlemen, President Barack Obama. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Please have a seat. Good afternoon, everybody.
Let me begin by thanking
our Vice President, Joe Biden, for your dedication, Joe, to this issue,
for bringing so many different voices to the table. Because while
reducing gun violence is a complicated challenge,
protecting our children from harm shouldn't be a divisive one.
Over the month since the
tragedy in Newtown, we've heard from so many, and, obviously, none have
affected us more than the families of those gorgeous children and their
teachers and guardians who were lost. And
so we're grateful to all of you for taking the time to be here, and
recognizing that we honor their memories in part by doing everything we
can to prevent this from happening again.
But we also heard from
some unexpected people. In particular, I started getting a lot of
letters from kids. Four of them are here today -- Grant Fritz, Julia
Stokes, Hinna Zeejah, and Teja Goode. They're pretty
representative of some of the messages that I got. These are some
pretty smart letters from some pretty smart young people.
Hinna, a third-grader --
you can go ahead and wave, Hinna. That's you -- (laughter.) Hinna
wrote, "I feel terrible for the parents who lost their children…I love
my country and [I] want everybody to be happy and
safe."
And then, Grant -- go
ahead and wave, Grant. (Laughter.) Grant said, "I think there should
be some changes. We should learn from what happened at Sandy Hook…I
feel really bad."
And then, Julia said --
Julia, where are you? There you go -- "I'm not scared for my safety,
I'm scared for others. I have four brothers and sisters and I know I
would not be able to bear the thought of losing
any of them."
These are our kids. This
is what they're thinking about. And so what we should be thinking about
is our responsibility to care for them, and shield them from harm, and
give them the tools they need to grow up
and do everything that they're capable of doing -- not just to pursue
their own dreams, but to help build this country. This is our first
task as a society, keeping our children safe. This is how we will be
judged. And their voices should compel us to change.
And that's why, last
month, I asked Joe to lead an effort, along with members of my Cabinet,
to come up with some concrete steps we can take right now to keep our
children safe, to help prevent mass shootings, to
reduce the broader epidemic of gun violence in this country.
And we can't put this off
any longer. Just last Thursday, as TV networks were covering one of
Joe's meetings on this topic, news broke of another school shooting,
this one in California. In the month since 20
precious children and six brave adults were violently taken from us at
Sandy Hook Elementary, more than 900 of our fellow Americans have
reportedly died at the end of a gun -- 900 in the past month. And every
day we wait, that number will keep growing.
So I'm putting forward a
specific set of proposals based on the work of Joe's task force. And in
the days ahead, I intend to use whatever weight this office holds to
make them a reality. Because while there is
no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence
completely, no piece of legislation that will prevent every tragedy,
every act of evil, if there is even one thing we can do to reduce this
violence, if there is even one life that can
be saved, then we've got an obligation to try.
And I'm going to do my
part. As soon as I'm finished speaking here, I will sit at that desk
and I will sign a directive giving law enforcement, schools, mental
health professionals and the public health community
some of the tools they need to help reduce gun violence.
We will make it easier to
keep guns out of the hands of criminals by strengthening the background
check system. We will help schools hire more resource officers if they
want them and develop emergency preparedness
plans. We will make sure mental health professionals know their
options for reporting threats of violence -- even as we acknowledge that
someone with a mental illness is far more likely to be a victim of
violent crime than the perpetrator.
And while year after year,
those who oppose even modest gun safety measures have threatened to
defund scientific or medical research into the causes of gun violence, I
will direct the Centers for Disease Control
to go ahead and study the best ways to reduce it -- and Congress should
fund research into the effects that violent video games have on young
minds. We don't benefit from ignorance. We don't benefit from not
knowing the science of this epidemic of violence.
These are a few of the 23
executive actions that I'm announcing today. But as important as these
steps are, they are in no way a substitute for action from members of
Congress. To make a real and lasting difference,
Congress, too, must act -- and Congress must act soon. And I'm calling
on Congress to pass some very specific proposals right away.
First: It's time for
Congress to require a universal background check for anyone trying to
buy a gun. (Applause.) The law already requires licensed gun dealers
to run background checks, and over the last 14
years that's kept 1.5 million of the wrong people from getting their
hands on a gun. But it's hard to enforce that law when as many as 40
percent of all gun purchases are conducted without a background check.
That's not safe. That's not smart. It's not
fair to responsible gun buyers or sellers.
If you want to buy a gun
-- whether it's from a licensed dealer or a private seller -- you should
at least have to show you are not a felon or somebody legally
prohibited from buying one. This is common sense.
And an overwhelming majority of Americans agree with us on the need for
universal background checks -- including more than 70 percent of the
National Rifle Association's members, according to one survey. So
there's no reason we can't do this.
Second: Congress should
restore a ban on military-style assault weapons, and a 10-round limit
for magazines. (Applause.) The type of assault rifle used in Aurora,
for example, when paired with high-capacity magazines,
has one purpose -- to pump out as many bullets as possible, as quickly
as possible; to do as much damage, using bullets often designed to
inflict maximum damage.
And that's what allowed
the gunman in Aurora to shoot 70 people -- 70 people -- killing 12 in a
matter of minutes. Weapons designed for the theater of war have no
place in a movie theater. A majority of Americans
agree with us on this.
And, by the way, so did
Ronald Reagan, one of the staunchest defenders of the Second Amendment,
who wrote to Congress in 1994, urging them -- this is Ronald Reagan
speaking -- urging them to "listen to the American
public and to the law enforcement community and support a ban on the
further manufacture of [military-style assault] weapons." (Applause.)
And finally, Congress
needs to help, rather than hinder, law enforcement as it does its job.
We should get tougher on people who buy guns with the express purpose of
turning around and selling them to criminals.
And we should severely punish anybody who helps them do this. Since
Congress hasn't confirmed a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms in six years, they should confirm Todd Jones, who will be
-- who has been Acting, and I will be nominating
for the post. (Applause.)
And at a time when budget
cuts are forcing many communities to reduce their police force, we
should put more cops back on the job and back on our streets.
Let me be absolutely
clear. Like most Americans, I believe the Second Amendment guarantees
an individual right to bear arms. I respect our strong tradition of gun
ownership and the rights of hunters and sportsmen.
There are millions of responsible, law-abiding gun owners in America
who cherish their right to bear arms for hunting, or sport, or
protection, or collection.
I also believe most gun
owners agree that we can respect the Second Amendment while keeping an
irresponsible, law-breaking few from inflicting harm on a massive
scale. I believe most of them agree that if America
worked harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, there
would be fewer atrocities like the one that occurred in Newtown. That's
what these reforms are designed to do. They're common-sense measures.
They have the support of the majority of
the American people.
And yet, that doesn't mean
any of this is going to be easy to enact or implement. If it were,
we'd already have universal background checks. The ban on assault
weapons and high-capacity magazines never would have
been allowed to expire. More of our fellow Americans might still be
alive, celebrating birthdays and anniversaries and graduations.
This will be difficult.
There will be pundits and politicians and special interest lobbyists
publicly warning of a tyrannical, all-out assault on liberty -- not
because that's true, but because they want to gin
up fear or higher ratings or revenue for themselves. And behind the
scenes, they'll do everything they can to block any common-sense reform
and make sure nothing changes whatsoever.
The only way we will be
able to change is if their audience, their constituents, their
membership says this time must be different -- that this time, we must
do something to protect our communities and our kids.
I will put everything I've
got into this, and so will Joe. But I tell you, the only way we can
change is if the American people demand it. And by the way, that
doesn't just mean from certain parts of the country.
We're going to need voices in those areas, in those congressional
districts, where the tradition of gun ownership is strong to speak up
and to say this is important. It can't just be the usual suspects. We
have to examine ourselves and our hearts, and ask
ourselves what is important.
This will not happen unless the American
people demand it. If parents and teachers, police officers and pastors,
if hunters and sportsmen, if responsible gun owners, if Americans of
every background stand up and say, enough; we've
suffered too much pain and care too much about our children to allow
this to continue -- then change will come. That's what it's going to
take.
In the letter that Julia
wrote me, she said, "I know that laws have to be passed by Congress, but
I beg you to try very hard." (Laughter.) Julia, I will try very
hard. But she's right. The most important changes
we can make depend on congressional action. They need to bring these
proposals up for a vote, and the American people need to make sure that
they do.
Get them on record. Ask
your member of Congress if they support universal background checks to
keep guns out of the wrong hands. Ask them if they support renewing a
ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity
magazines. And if they say no, ask them why not. Ask them what's more
important -- doing whatever it takes to get a A grade from the gun
lobby that funds their campaigns, or giving parents some peace of mind
when they drop their child off for first grade?
(Applause.)
This is the land of the
free, and it always will be. As Americans, we are endowed by our
Creator with certain inalienable rights that no man or government can
take away from us. But we've also long recognized,
as our Founders recognized, that with rights come responsibilities.
Along with our freedom to live our lives as we will comes an obligation
to allow others to do the same. We don't live in isolation. We live in
a society, a government of, and by, and for
the people. We are responsible for each other.
The right to worship
freely and safely, that right was denied to Sikhs in Oak Creek,
Wisconsin. The right to assemble peaceably, that right was denied
shoppers in Clackamas, Oregon, and moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado.
That most fundamental set of rights to life and liberty and the pursuit
of happiness -- fundamental rights that were denied to college students
at Virginia Tech, and high school students at Columbine, and elementary
school students in Newtown, and kids on
street corners in Chicago on too frequent a basis to tolerate, and all
the families who've never imagined that they'd lose a loved one to a
bullet -- those rights are at stake. We're responsible.
When I visited Newtown
last month, I spent some private time with many of the families who lost
their children that day. And one was the family of Grace McDonald.
Grace's parents are here. Grace was seven years
old when she was struck down -- just a gorgeous, caring, joyful little
girl. I'm told she loved pink. She loved the beach. She dreamed of
becoming a painter.
And so just before I left,
Chris, her father, gave me one of her paintings, and I hung it in my
private study just off the Oval Office. And every time I look at that
painting, I think about Grace. And I think
about the life that she lived and the life that lay ahead of her, and
most of all, I think about how, when it comes to protecting the most
vulnerable among us, we must act now -- for Grace. For the 25 other
innocent children and devoted educators who had
so much left to give. For the men and women in big cities and small
towns who fall victim to senseless violence each and every day. For all
the Americans who are counting on us to keep them safe from harm.
Let's do the right thing. Let's do the right thing
for them, and for this country that we love so much. (Applause.)
Thank you. Let's sign these orders. (Applause.)
(The executive orders are signed.) (Applause.)
All right, there we go. (Applause.)
