02:57USA: Tearful Obama announces stricter gun controls
US President Barack Obama was visibly moved during a speech on gun control at the White House in Washington D.C. on Tuesday. The president broke down when recalling the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, in which 27 people were killed including 20 children, saying “every time I think about those kids it gets me mad.”
The president went on, urging “gun owners, who grieve with us every time this happens and feel like your views are not being properly represented, to join with us to demand something better.”
Obama drew standing ovation from the audience, many of whom were family members of gun violence victims, after declaring "we do not have to accept this carnage as the price of freedom.”
The White House is introducing new legislation that would expand background checks for gun buyers. “Anybody in the business of selling firearms must be get a license and conduct or be subject to criminal prosecutions," announced Obama. The new requirements have by-passed Congress as the president utilises his executive power to push through legislation.
The issue of gun control gained urgency in the US following a series of multiple mass shootings in 2015 which generated a national outcry.
02:57US President Barack Obama was visibly moved during a speech on gun control at the White House in Washington D.C. on Tuesday. The president broke down when recalling the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, in which 27 people were killed including 20 children, saying “every time I think about those kids it gets me mad.”
The president went on, urging “gun owners, who grieve with us every time this happens and feel like your views are not being properly represented, to join with us to demand something better.”
Obama drew standing ovation from the audience, many of whom were family members of gun violence victims, after declaring "we do not have to accept this carnage as the price of freedom.”
The White House is introducing new legislation that would expand background checks for gun buyers. “Anybody in the business of selling firearms must be get a license and conduct or be subject to criminal prosecutions," announced Obama. The new requirements have by-passed Congress as the president utilises his executive power to push through legislation.
The issue of gun control gained urgency in the US following a series of multiple mass shootings in 2015 which generated a national outcry.