President sets sights on cutting gun violence
Obama calls for help in fighting “epidemic,” as he considers whether to impose new gun control measures.
HONOLULU — President Barack Obama issued a New Year’s Day call to Americans to help him fight an “epidemic of gun violence” in the U.S., signaling it is a top priority as he prepares to decide whether to impose new gun control measures under existing federal law.
Obama said he will meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday to consider what actions he can take to help reduce gun violence, an issue her agency has been studying.
In his weekly radio address released Friday, Obama urged Americans to stand with him if they share his belief that the Second Amendment right to bear arms also leaves room for restrictions on gun ownership by “an irresponsible, dangerous few.”
“Change, as always, is going to take all of us,” Obama said. “The gun lobby is loud and well-organized in its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone.
“The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well-organized in our defense of our kids,” he said.
Obama’s past efforts to pass tough new gun laws, including a massive push in 2013, have failed despite repeated mass shootings.
After the October massacre at a community college in Roseburg, Ore., Obama ordered the Department of Justice to look at the ways he might impose tougher restrictions by executive authority. Lawyers and policy advisers are studying how he might interpret existing law or strengthen regulations to require more background checks to weed out violent felons and mentally ill people trying to buy guns.
Critics have promised to challenge Obama if he takes administrative action.
“The president has made clear he’s not satisfied with where we are,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.