Obama Uses Dallas Police Shootings for Gun Control Push
Friday, 08 Jul 2016 02:27 PM
President Barack Obama called for gun control action in his statement denouncing the "senseless murders" of five Dallas police officers, Fox News reports.
In addition to the five killed, seven were wounded by sniper fire during a Black Lives Matter protest over the recent police killings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota.
Calling the Dallas slaughter a "vicious, calculated and despicable attack," for which "justice will be done," Obama praised law enforcement for doing an "extraordinarily difficult job."
"Today is a wrenching reminder of the sacrifices that they make for us," Obama said.
But then he veered into politics:
"We also know that when people are armed with powerful weapons, unfortunately it makes attacks like these more deadly and more tragic, and in the days ahead we're going to have to consider those realities as well," Obama said just before concluding his statement.
Obama began using mass shooting incidents to push for gun control last fall, in the wake of a shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.
"And, of course, what's also routine is that somebody, somewhere will comment and say, 'Obama politicized this issue,'" he said in October, The Washington Post reports. "Well, this is something we should politicize. It is relevant to our common life together, to the body politic."
"This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction."
On Twitter, responses to Obama's comments were mixed.
Breitbart News was more critical:
James O'Keefe, the controversial conservative journalist, reacted even more strongly, saying:
In addition to the five killed, seven were wounded by sniper fire during a Black Lives Matter protest over the recent police killings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota.
Calling the Dallas slaughter a "vicious, calculated and despicable attack," for which "justice will be done," Obama praised law enforcement for doing an "extraordinarily difficult job."
But then he veered into politics:
"We also know that when people are armed with powerful weapons, unfortunately it makes attacks like these more deadly and more tragic, and in the days ahead we're going to have to consider those realities as well," Obama said just before concluding his statement.
Obama began using mass shooting incidents to push for gun control last fall, in the wake of a shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.
"And, of course, what's also routine is that somebody, somewhere will comment and say, 'Obama politicized this issue,'" he said in October, The Washington Post reports. "Well, this is something we should politicize. It is relevant to our common life together, to the body politic."
"This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction."
Breitbart News was more critical:
James O'Keefe, the controversial conservative journalist, reacted even more strongly, saying:
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