Roughly a month since the massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that President Obama will be presenting gun control recommendations on Wednesday, flanked by children who wrote concerned letters in the aftermath of the tragedy.
“They will be joined by children from around the country who wrote the president letters in the wake of that tragedy expressing their concerns about gun violence and school safety, along with their parents,” he explained.
The steps could include ordering stricter action against people who lie on gun sale background checks, seeking to ensure more complete records in the federal background check database, striking limits on federal research into gun use, ordering tougher penalties against gun trafficking, and giving schools flexibility to use grant money to improve safety.
Obama is vowing not to back off his support for sweeping gun legislation that would require congressional backing – including banning assault weapons, limiting the capacity of ammunition magazines and instituting universal background checks – despite opposition from the influential gun lobby.
Fox News host Megyn Kelly broke the news during her broadcast Tuesday, via Gateway Pundit:
Kelly read her Twitter feed to get immediate reaction to Carney’s remarks.
“[People are] calling it disgusting, calling it shameless, one person pointing out that…those who feel differently than the president should have their own news conference with children whose lives were saved by guns.”
But White House officials believe that moving swiftly on gun proposals at a national level, before the shock over the Newtown shooting fades, gives Obama the best chance to get his proposals through Congress.
This is not the first time President Obama has utilized children and letter-writers in seeking support for his agenda.
After his position on gay marriage “evolved,” the president publicly responded to little Sophia’s letter about her two dads, and in a YouTube video uploaded roughly 3 years ago, the president read a series of “heartbreaking” letters about the nation’s health care system.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
