Tearful Obama calls for 'meaningful action'
2012-12-15 09:01
Washington - Choking up and wiping away tears, President
Barack Obama said on Friday that "our hearts are broken" for the
victims of a deadly shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school and
called for "meaningful action" to curb gun violence.
"We've endured too many of these tragedies in the past
few years," Obama said during a sombre televised appearance in the White
House briefing room just hours after one of the worst mass shootings in US
history.
Pausing to collect himself as he expressed
"overwhelming grief" as a parent, Obama deplored the
"heinous" attack by a heavily armed gunman who killed at least 27
people, including 20 children and himself, at a school in Newtown, Connecticut.
Obama, who has responded to previous shooting massacres by
citing the need for a national conversation about gun violence, again stopped
short of calling for tougher gun-control laws, considered politically risky in
a country known for its flourishing gun culture.
'Regardless of the politics'
But, little more than a month after his decisive re-election
to a second term, he suggested that in the aftermath of Friday's tragedy he
might be open to considering a less cautious approach.
"As a country, we have been through this too many times,"
Obama said, ticking off a list of recent shootings.
"And we're going to have to come together and take
meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the
politics," he said, in an apparent reference to the influence of the National
Rifle Association, a powerful pro-gun lobby, in Congress.
Obama avoided making direct calls for gun control during his
bitterly fought campaign for a second term, which he secured in the November 6
election.
But New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who co-chairs a
coalition of mayors on gun-control policy, urged the Democratic president to
tackle the issue despite likely opposition from Republicans who control the US
House of Representatives.
"We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have
not seen is leadership - not from the White House and not from Congress. That
must end today," Bloomberg said.
Outside the White House gates, about 200 people rallied on Friday
evening in favour of gun restrictions. "No more lives shattered by gun violence,"
read one placard.
Meantime, partisan bickering in Washington, divided as much
as ever before by a battle over a looming "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes
and spending cuts, was put on hold on Friday amid mourning for the dead at
Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Obama ordered flags at federal buildings to be lowered to
half-mast and he cancelled an official trip to Maine scheduled for Wednesday.
There was no immediate word from the White House on when the president might
visit Connecticut to console grieving families.
Innocence 'torn away' from children
"Our hearts are broken today, for the parents, and
grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children and for the
families of the adults who were lost," Obama said, his voice cracking with
emotion.
"Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors
as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they
know that their children's innocence has been torn away from them too early and
there are no words that will ease their pain," he said.
Obama, who has two young daughters, looked grim when he
entered the briefing room, and he paused and blinked hard after mentioning the
ages of the dead children - from 5 to 10 years old.
"I know there's not a parent in America who doesn't
feel the same overwhelming grief that I do," he said.
Obama raised a finger and dabbed at the corner of his eye on
several occasions. While speaking, he set his jaw several times. At the end of
his statement, there was a tear visible below his left eye and that side of his
face was slightly wet.
Obama has issued public statements before in the aftermath
of shooting massacres.
Following the killing of six people at a Sikh temple in
Wisconsin in early August, he said such incidents should prompt soul-searching
by all Americans.
But when asked then whether he would push for further
gun-control measures in the wake of the shootings, Obama said only that he
wanted to bring together leaders at all levels of American society to examine
ways to curb gun violence.
The president has said he supports the reinstatement of a
ban on assault weapons sales, but he did little in his first term to advance
it.
Asked about gun control on Friday, White House spokesperson
Jay Carney told reporters that the immediate aftermath of the Connecticut
shooting was not the right time for policy debates.
