President Barack Obama on Gun Control Measures – Speech (VIDEO)
President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for speedy action on gun control measures and vowed to use “whatever weight this office holds” to make them a reality.
“We can’t put this off any longer,” Obama said in urging Congress to approve measures requiring universal background checks on gun buyers, and banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.
Obama said every day the United States waits to act, the number of people killed from gun violence will keep growing.
“This will not happen unless the American people demand it,” he said.Obama’s agenda – shaping up as the most ambitious gun-control push in decades – will include executive and legislative action, with the latter sure to face an uphill battle in Congress where appetite for reinstating an assault weapons ban is low.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who led a task force that made recommendations on the issue, were presenting the measures at a White House event this hour attended by children from around the country who wrote letters to the president about gun violence and school safety.
The action sets up a direct confrontation with the powerful National Rifle Association gun lobby, which is launching an advertising campaign against gun control and deploying its representatives in force on Capitol Hill.
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