President Obama is disappointed by the waning prospects for federal civilian disarmament proposals. And so the Petulant in Chief played the scold in this morning’s speech. In front of a gaggle of mothers who’d lost children to “gun violence,” Mr Obama hectored his audience from on-high. He brazenly claimed that an assault weapons ban, ammunition capacity limits and federal gun registration would not be “taking away anyone’s gun rights.” He criticized pro-gun rights supporters for “running out the clock.” And admitted that no matter what, “there would still be gun deaths.” Here’s what the President told the American people . . .
Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. I haven’t forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. If there is one thing I’ve said consistently since I first ran for this office, nothing is more powerful than millions of voices calling for change.
And that’s why it’s so important that all these moms and dads are here today, but that’s also why it’s important that we’ve got grassroots groups out there that got started and are out there mobilizing and organizing and keeping up the fight.
That’s what it’s going to take to make this country safer.
It’s going to take moms and dads and hunters and sportsmen and clergy and local officials, like the mayors who are here today, standing up and saying, this time really is different, that we’re not just going to sit back and wait until the next Newtown or the next Blacksburg or the next innocent, beautiful child is gunned down in a playground in Chicago or Philadelphia or Los Angeles before we summon the will to act.
Right now members of Congress are back home in their districts and many of them are holding events where they can hear from their constituents, so I want everybody who is listening to make yourself heard right now.
If you think that checking someone’s criminal record before he can check out a gun show is common sense, you’ve going to make yourself heard. If you are a responsible, law-abiding gun owner who wants to keep irresponsible, law-breaking individuals from abusing the right to bear arms by inflicting harm on a massive scale, speak up. We need your voices in this debate.
If you’re a mom like Katarina who wants to make this country safer, a stronger place for our children to learn and grow up, get together with other moms like the ones here today and raise your voices and make yourselves unmistakably heard.
We need everybody to remember how we felt 100 days ago and make sure that what we said at that time wasn’t just a bunch of platitudes, that we meant it.
And the desire to make a difference is what brought Corey Thornblad here today. Corey grew up in Oklahoma, where her dad sold firearms at gun shows. And today she’s a mom and a teacher. And Corey said after Newtown she cried for days for the students who could have been her students, for the parents she could have known, for the teachers like her who go to work every single day and love their kids and want them to succeed.
And Corey says, “My heart was broken and I decided now was the time to act, to march, the time to petition, the time to make phone calls because tears were no longer enough.”
And that’s my attitude. Tears aren’t enough. Expressions of sympathy aren’t enough. Speeches aren’t enough. We’ve cried enough. We’ve known enough heartbreak. What we’re proposing is not radical, it’s not taking away anybody’s gun rights. It’s something that, if we are serious, we will do it. Now is the time to turn that heartbreak into something real.
It won’t solve every problem. There will still be gun deaths deaths. There will still be tragedies. There will still be violence. There will still be evil.
But we can make a difference if, not just the activists here on this stage, but the general public, including responsible gun owners say, you know what, we can do better than this. We can do better to make sure that fewer parents have to endure the pain of losing a child to an act of violence. That’s what this is about. And enough people like Katarina and Cory (ph) and the rest of the parents who are here today get involved, and if enough members of Congress take a stand for cooperation and common sense, and lead and don’t get squishy, because time has passed and maybe it’s not on the news every single day.
If that’s who we are, if that’s our character, that we’re willing to follow through on commitments that we say are important, commitments to each other and to our kids, then I’m confident we can make this country a safer place for all of them.
So thank you very much, everybody. God bless you.
(APPLAUSE)
Transcript courtesy washingtonpost.com