Gun Control Legislation Gets Push From Obama In Wake Of Navy Yard Shooting

Gun control legislation that has stalled in Congress is getting a renewed push from President Obama in the wake of an attack in Washington that left 12 people dead.

Just days after the Navy Yard shooting and another mass shooting in Chicago that also left 12 people wounded, Obama asked supporters to renew their push for stronger gun control.

“We can’t rest until all of our children can go to school or walk down the street free from the fear that they will be struck down by a stray bullet,” Obama said in a keynote speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation at an event on Saturday.

The gun control legislation would expand background checks and place other restrictions on gun sales, but it was voted down by Republican and some Democrats and failed to clear the Senate.

The bill arose in the wake of another tragedy, the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that left 20 first-grade students and six educators killed.

Obama has cited other national tragedies in his push to tighten access to guns.

“Tomorrow night I’ll be meeting in mourning with families in this city who now know the same unspeakable grief of families in Newtown and Aurora and Tucson and Chicago and New Orleans and all across the country, people whose loved ones were torn from them without headlines sometimes or public outcry,” Obama said.

“But it’s happening every single day,” he said. “We fought a good fight earlier this year, but we came up short and that means we’ve got to get back up and go back at it because as long as there are those who fight to make it as easy as possible for dangerous people to get their hands on a gun, then we’ve got to work as hard as possible for the sake of our children. We’ve got to be ones who are willing to do more work to make it harder.”

The gun control legislation is not the only approach Obama is taking to restrict access to guns. After Monday’s shooting the White House said the president would use his executive authority to make gun control laws stronger, including requiring background checks for guns sold online and at gun shows.

[Image: Wikimedia Commons]