President Obama spoke out once again in favor of stronger gun controls in the wake of a school shooting in Oregon on Tuesday that left a student dead and a teacher injured.
“We’re the only developed country where this happens. And it happens weekly,” he said.
The president was on Tumblr answering questions on student loan debt, but during the session he digressed to discuss the difficulties of trying to pass gun legislation reform.
The Q&A session began just hours after a gunman opened fire in an Oregon high school. This follows a university campus shooting that left one dead and injured three last week in Seattle, and a rampage at a California campus that left six others and a gunman dead.
Obama said on Tumblr:
People ask me what I’m proudest of and what are my biggest frustrations as president. My biggest frustration is that this society hasn’t been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do damage. We’re the only developed country where this happens. And it happens weekly. Our levels of gun violence are off the charts.
Last year, Congress failed to pass a bipartisan bill drafted in response to Newtown that would have expanded background checks for gun purchases to cover gun shows and online sales. It was perhaps the best chance of gun legislation reform in over a decade.
After the vote, Obama blamed members of Congress for cowering to the gun lobby and called it “a pretty shameful day for Washington”.
Two other measures – one that would have banned assault weapons and another that would have banned high-capacity magazines – also failed that day.
Since Newtown more states have eased gun laws than have restricted them, despite efforts by gun control advocates to spotlight the issue.
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