Obama repeats call for "meaningful action" on guns

With Washington stalemated on the "fiscal cliff", the weekly addresses from President Obama and the Republican Party were expected to focus on that fight - until the unexpected happened Friday at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

Instead, the president used his address this week to echo the remarks he made after the shooting, saying "we have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this. Regardless of the politics."

• Obama: "We have been through this too many times"
• Complete coverage: Elementary school rampage

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, for his part, canceled the GOP's weekly address, saying in a written statement: "There will be no Weekly Republican Address this weekend so that President Obama can speak for the entire nation at this time of mourning. I join the president - and all Americans - in sending prayers and condolences to the victims' loved ones."

The full transcript of Mr. Obama's weekly address:

On Friday, we learned that more than two dozen people were killed when a gunman opened fire in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Most of those who died were just young children with their whole lives ahead of them. And every parent in America has a heart heavy with hurt.

Among the fallen were also teachers - men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams. So our hearts are broken today. We grieve for the families of those we lost. And we keep in our prayers the parents of those who survived. Because as blessed as they are to have their children home, they know that their child's innocence has been torn away far too early.

As a nation, we have endured far too many of these tragedies in the last few years. An elementary school in Newtown. A shopping mall in Oregon. A house of worship in Wisconsin. A movie theater in Colorado. Countless street corners in places like Chicago and Philadelphia.

Any of these neighborhoods could be our own. So we have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this. Regardless of the politics.

This weekend, Michelle and I are doing what I know every parent is doing - holding our children as close as we can and reminding them how much we love them.

There are families in Connecticut who can't do that today. And they need all of us now. Because while nothing can take the place of a lost child or loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need - to remind them that we are there for them; that we are praying for them; and that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their own memories, but also in their community, and their country.

Thank you.

[raccman1]

Why not start off by getting the guns away from the Cripps, and Bloods and all the other street gangs in the U.S. instead of from honest hard working people only trying to protect themselves ? How about the high gun crime rate in Black Communities ?

[GkarM]

HEY CBS! ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION HERE?

We all have the right to free speech -- along with the right to bear arms. But this was a MASSACRE. 20 little children were MURDERED.

But some of the people who are posting here think it's the perfect time to attack the president!

Is that sick, or what?

Are they mentally UNSTABLE? DO THEY HAVE GUNS? Maybe yes, maybe no, but they all have IP addresses and most of them are too ignorant/stupid to realize they can be traced.

Just sayin'.

[sglosser]

FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS....

I understand that this economy is in absolute shambles because a very high percentage of the 51% that voted for him are from the lower end of the socioeconomic scale (not that there's anything wrong with that). (But basically the people in the middle and upper ends are what will rescue the economy through their spending if they are not afraid of the sort of divisive action this guy has taken in the past.) Sudden bailouts, cash for clunkers, suing US firms (small businesses) for making clean energy purchases that the US later determined China was selling overly cheaply; same thing for tires.

I understand all that but to politicize a national tragedy and to try and use this as a distraction from the fact that neither side is budging on the fiscal cliff which is almost all of that which is holding back any businesses at this point is very very stupid.

And on top of that encouraging so much media attention for acts like this is what most clinical psychologists will tell politicians and media actually causes other actions.

God bless all those poor kids and teachers; and may that sack of **** burn in hell.

[BigMykul]

So, when they ban all semi-autos:

1) How will they collect them? (kick in your doors and hold you and your family hostage while they gather them?)
2) How will they insure no unregistered semis are still out? (appoint block wardens to spy on their neighbors?)

Can any of you, that are calling for these bans, answer these two questions?

[skeezix06]

Maybe they're relying on individual honesty and integrity. Maybe they're hoping people will do the right thing on their own. If they don't do the right thing and turn them in and the gun is used later in a crime, I would suggest that the owner who refused to turn it in gets the same sentence as the person who committed the crime.

[skeezix06]

Maybe they're relying on individual honesty and integrity. Maybe they're hoping people will do the right thing on their own. If they don't do the right thing and turn them in and the gun is used later in a crime, I would suggest that the owner who refused to turn it in gets the same sentence as the person who committed the crime.

In other words. I've had enough of the foolishness from the gun lobby.

[johnlockesghost]

If you focus on the gun laws as the problem, then you have already lost the struggle. The problem is much more widespread. It is our dealing with violence that's the real culprit. Cartoons, computer games, movies and TV shows are rife with violence that as a nation we are exposed to from pre-school age to adulthood. The media is at the heart of societies problems with violence and attempting to abridge the 2nd amendment won't provide resolution.

[sglosser]

ABSOLUTELY SAFE AND CONSENSUAL SEXUALLY EXPLICIT SCENES ARE A NO NO FOR TV; BUT A HEINOUSLY DESCRIBED MURDER CAN BE CLEARLY SHOWN.

[harv823]

The true number of the extreme NRA members opposed to ANY gun safety is minute compared to the rest of us demanding common sense gun safety in our country. In other words, treat those extreme NRA radicals as what they are,that being irrelevant.Also it's obvious that those constantly espousing the Second Amendment are actually those making money on the manufacturing or sale of guns and ammunition or paid to do so. All they really care about is $$$$ regardless of the consequences.Where are their morals?

[pleaseletitbeso]

Somebody is getting it right, wonder why none of the other news outlets are carrying it .

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404721,00.html

[1Reality]

People full of morbid hate take the lives of innocent, defenseless children. Why is an unborn child stripped of his person hood just because he has not passed through the birth canal? Can the President be taken seriously when he is a very active and influential advocate of all types of abortion? Twenty, six and seven year old children shot as they sat in school compared to 50 million children killed in there mother's womb since the legalization of abortion. Is a classroom safer for children than their mother's womb? How does anyone think a somewhat mentally sick 20 year old man sees any difference between tearing an unborn child to pieces within it's mother's womb and shooting up a class of children. The atrocity of killing children has hardened our culture, and made us insensitive toward children in general. We have been led down a path of decline by those with unholy agendas, and have bought into a "sacrifice your children, and for you it will be well" mentality.

[norris1953]

by Tom Norris.....
My heart is with the families. May God bless and keep them always.....

TAKEN OUT OF SCHOOL

18 children were taken out of school,
and with 8 adults, makes 26 in the pool.

A lone gunman, now we're being told,
Was all it took to end their lives,?
but I think their lives were sold.

Who is there amongst us, who doesn't clearly see,
The madness all around us that made this come to be.

We need more guns, the lobbyist say,
We could have shot him down,
If every boy and girl today?
were packing in that town.

We need more guns politicians say,
Every man has a right,
To buy and sell assault weapons,
And children , young and bright.

We need more guns, the senate says,
It's not us should make a rule,
To take away those super guns
From every crazy fool.

We need more guns, the Congress says,
It's written in the law.
It's not our fault, these kids lay dying, calling for their Ma.

We need more guns, we know this, from the NRA,
And any politician who doubts them
Ohhhh, dearly he will pay.

The NRA, it owns them,
The politician has been paid,
With re-election money,
And children so afraid.

Guns don't kill, it's people,
These wiseman always tell.
Won't you buy a gun from me,
Before I burn in hell ?

So now I finally get it,
Not guns, but people kill.
Boehner, McConnell,Cantor,
To name a few, if you will.

Ohh, and Mr. President, I can't say your hands are clean.
I've voted for you twice now,
But my eyes see how it's been.

"Now's not the time " you said to us
When Giffords was sadly shot,
Do you think that maybe now's the time
You can start to make a fuss.

My hands are clean, says Cantor,
Mine too, Boehner shouts out.
You need us re-elected,
Is there any doubt ?

We have no blood on our hands,
These children , WE didn't kill.
Why should we do anything,,
Why should we pass a bill.

At the hands of politicians,
It seems we've all been sold
For even less than Jesus
By Judas Iscariot of old.

Oh, and me as I am writing,
Just noticed my bloody hands,
For silence, more than guns,?
Has destroyed so many lands.

And how many times must the canon ball fly,
Before they are forever banned?
I think I'll copyright that line
Before Dylan shows his hand.

Certainly, our forefathers ,
Knew this day would come.
And wanted us to protect
The politicians, not the young.

My thoughts are with the families ,
No parent should lose a child,
Especially from lack of laws
That clearly should be filed.

And to the young survivors,
A day you won't forget,
Forgive me and all adults,
For something that we let.

I'll steal some words from Dylan,
It's me he'll probably sue,
But he has so many,
He won't miss just a few.

"May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others,
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
And may you stay
Forever Young"

And now I'll ask Piers Morgan ,
The bloke's been speaking out,
Can you turn that Limey voice more into a SHOUT?

I feel like Dylan's Mr. Jones,
As I sit chilled to the bone
Hearing all the talking heads,
My God, am I here all alone ?????????

[creeks1111]

Willing to give up freedoms for the promise of safety ............ History has proven this to be flawed.