President Obama on the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard made a fresh call for additional gun reforms, saying such violence “shatters too many American families every day.”
“One year ago, 12 Americans went to work to protect and strengthen the country they loved,” the president said on Tuesday. “Today, we must do the same — rejecting atrocities like these as the new normal and renewing our call for common-sense reforms that respect our traditions while reducing” gun violence.
Thousands of people gathered at the Washington Navy Yard Tuesday, paying tribute to those killed in the shooting inside Building 197.
The early-morning shooting last September also initiated a broader debate about the security of government buildings, prompting lawmakers to pass reforms to prevent similar mass shootings.
“As we remember men and women taken from us so senselessly, we keep close their family and friends, stand with the survivors who continue to heal and pay tribute to the first responders who acted with skill and bravery,” Obama said. “At the same time, we continue to improve security at our country’s bases and installations to protect our military and civilian personnel who help keep us safe.”
Obama’s call for greater gun control, however, isn’t going anywhere on Capitol Hill.
The Senate last year handed Obama an embarrassing defeat on his push for an assault weapons ban and prohibition on high-capacity ammo magazines. And the prospects for such legislation are even bleaker in the Republican-controlled House, particularly ahead of November’s midterms.
