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'Less than 100 days ago (Newtown, Conn. massacre) happened, and the entire country pledged we would do something about it, and that this time would be different,' Obama said.
By Joseph Straw , James Warren AND Matthew Lysiak In Newtown, Conn. / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
‘We’ve cried enough, we’ve known enough heartbreak,’ President Obama said. ‘Now’s the time to turn that heartbreak into something real.’
“Shame on us.”
With grieving mothers behind him, President Obama on Thursday tried to reinvigorate the fight for new gun controls, saying there is no excuse for inaction following the rampage in Newtown, Conn.
“Less than 100 days ago that happened, and the entire country pledged we would do something about it, and that this time would be different,” Obama said.
RELATED: HAMILL: NEWTOWN RESIDENTS TAKE TO STREETS TO URGE GUN CONTROL
“I haven’t forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten,” he added, his voice rising with indignation. “Tears aren’t enough. Expressions of sympathy aren’t enough. We’ve cried enough. We’ve known enough heartbreak.”
Just hours after Obama spoke at the White House, school kids in Newtown took to the streets of their idyllic community for an anti-gun demonstration.
“No more guns. I lost nine friends,” said 7-year-old Lauren Milgram,
holding up a sign she made from a Daily News front page, headlined,
“Shame on U.S.”
RELATED: ARSENAL OF WEAPONS FOUND IN LANZA'S HOME
“This is the way I feel. I made my own sign because I feel strongly that bad people shouldn’t use guns,” said the first-grader at Sandy Hook Elementary School, recalling how she hid in a bathroom as Adam Lanza stalked the halls Dec. 14 and killed 20 children and six adults.
She said she cries when she hears loud noises and misses her playmates.
“There are too many guns. Stop the violence,” said Darwin Killin, 6, who attended the rally with his father and brother outside the headquarters of the gun lobbyist group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The White House event — timed to coincide with a nationwide Day to Demand Action — was an effort to revive political momentum that has waned in the weeks since the Newtown tragedy.
Obama’s proposal to reinstate the federal ban on military-style assault
weapons appears to be on life-support as the Senate prepares to debate
gun restrictions next month.
The President said the heartbreak of parents who have lost loved ones to gun violence fuels his desire to prevent more tragedies. He noted that some moms joining him on stage lost children to shootings as recently as 35 days ago.
“I don’t think any of us who are parents can hear their stories and not think about our own daughters and our own sons and our own grandchildren,” Obama said.
A proposal for criminal background checks on all gun buyers is facing surprisingly stiff opposition, too — although Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Daily News on Thursday that he has resumed negotiations with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) in an attempt to hammer out an agreement.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a possible 2016 White House contender, joined three fellow Senate Republicans on Thursday in a threat to filibuster the legislation.
With grieving mothers behind him, President Obama on Thursday tried to reinvigorate the fight for new gun controls, saying there is no excuse for inaction following the rampage in Newtown, Conn.
“Less than 100 days ago that happened, and the entire country pledged we would do something about it, and that this time would be different,” Obama said.
RELATED: HAMILL: NEWTOWN RESIDENTS TAKE TO STREETS TO URGE GUN CONTROL
“I haven’t forgotten those kids. Shame on us if we’ve forgotten,” he added, his voice rising with indignation. “Tears aren’t enough. Expressions of sympathy aren’t enough. We’ve cried enough. We’ve known enough heartbreak.”
Just hours after Obama spoke at the White House, school kids in Newtown took to the streets of their idyllic community for an anti-gun demonstration.
YURI GRIPAS/REUTERS
President Obama was introduced by Katerina Rodgaard, a dance teacher who lost a promising student in the 2007 Virginia Tech school shooting.
RELATED: ARSENAL OF WEAPONS FOUND IN LANZA'S HOME
“This is the way I feel. I made my own sign because I feel strongly that bad people shouldn’t use guns,” said the first-grader at Sandy Hook Elementary School, recalling how she hid in a bathroom as Adam Lanza stalked the halls Dec. 14 and killed 20 children and six adults.
She said she cries when she hears loud noises and misses her playmates.
“There are too many guns. Stop the violence,” said Darwin Killin, 6, who attended the rally with his father and brother outside the headquarters of the gun lobbyist group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
The White House event — timed to coincide with a nationwide Day to Demand Action — was an effort to revive political momentum that has waned in the weeks since the Newtown tragedy.
Howard Simmons/New York Daily News
7-year-old Lauren Milgram was inside Sandy Hook Elementary School December with her brother and luckily escaped unharmed.
The President said the heartbreak of parents who have lost loved ones to gun violence fuels his desire to prevent more tragedies. He noted that some moms joining him on stage lost children to shootings as recently as 35 days ago.
“I don’t think any of us who are parents can hear their stories and not think about our own daughters and our own sons and our own grandchildren,” Obama said.
A proposal for criminal background checks on all gun buyers is facing surprisingly stiff opposition, too — although Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told the Daily News on Thursday that he has resumed negotiations with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) in an attempt to hammer out an agreement.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a possible 2016 White House contender, joined three fellow Senate Republicans on Thursday in a threat to filibuster the legislation.
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