Obama visits families of Conn. shooting victims

President Barack Obama arrives at the start of an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. / AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Two days after the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., President Obama is visiting the grief-stricken town tonight to take part in an interfaith vigil and meet with victims' families and first responders.

On Friday, following the news of the massacre, the president told the nation: "As a country, we have been through this too many times." For Mr. Obama, his visit to Connecticut will be his third trip to a site following a mass shooting in the past 23 months. In January 2011, he took part in a vigil following the mass shooting that injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and this past July, Mr. Obama met with victims' families following the massacre at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.

• Obama: "We have been through this too many times"
• Obama repeats call for "meaningful action" on guns

During his remarks on Friday, Mr. Obama said, "I know there's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief I do" and noted that the majority of the victims were "children, beautiful little kids... They had their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own."

Word of a presidential visit to Newtown spread earlier Saturday when the mayor of nearby Danbury, Mark Boughton, tweeted that helicopters heard over the area were part of a presidential advance team.

"Those helicopters you hear are the Presidential advance team," Boughton wrote on Twitter. "They are scouting landing locations."

[chewy2965]

WHY? Mr President has the story changed about the shooter in conn. First report was that he used 2 hand guns to do this terrible crime and a third(rifle) was found in the trunk of his mothers car... Now the story goes that he used the rifle to do the crime and then took his own life with a hand gun. WHY ARE YOU AND THE MEDIA LIEING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE? Is this about your gun control laws? THis is almost as bad as the crime itself. How can we trust anything that the media or yourself say when we catch you in lie's all the time.Now CBS news and yourself are liars. Liars ,liars,liars.Maybe if this shooter would have had a father or his teachers put his foot right square in his ass when he was growing up this would not have happened. But instead we cuddle him and lie to him and pamper his cowardly ass until he explodes and takes 26 innocent lives with him.Still, The fact that the story has changed already shows that you (Mr.President) are pushing this into a gun control issue. I am sure that your gun control laws would have prevented this, Just like crimminals obey all laws. What a bunch of morons...

[bilrobi1]

I don't believe Our President was involved in the initial investigation.

[CdnDiva]

Why are you so quick to jump on the President & calling everyone liars? The first police reports given to the media were wrong. This murderer used the AR15 to launch 3-11 shots into all these poor victims & carried a Glock & SigSauer as backup. One of these handguns he used to kill himself. Only yahoos like yourself seem to think it's OK to own an AR15. Educate yourself about these weapons before jumping on the media & especially on your President for going to bat for those who cannot speak for themselves. This carnage has got to stop. Listen to Diane Finestein before you say another word!

[aasisiddique]

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-897356

Blood and Death; let's not allow part of us to die...

[mollysmop7]

Now, WHERE was BARKS wife????? How come she did'nt come with him....It is SOoooo SHAMEFUL of her not to be there...Too BUSY with CHRISTMAS plans I suppose...Not much of a "FIRST" Lady that's for sure...Also why can't BARK speak from the heart..Notice how he had to READ his "sadness" from a SCRIPT..on a piece of paper...I would have felt insulted...

[JennyChange]

Vote now for a change regarding gun control: http://www.inqu.me/vote#!qid=gun_control_or_not_is_it_to_easy_to_get_a_gun_in_the_usa_and_should_be_more_restrictive

[trealaryn]

This time the Neanderthal Rifle Association and its top brass, who are mostly pimps for the gun manufacturers, will finally lose.

2nd amendment is fine, but buying multiple semi-automatic guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition and claiming it "freedom" is a sure sign of a Neanderthal.

That must change. President Obama and congress, show some common sense and leadership.

Many gun nuts will be upset, but sensible gun owners will realize that the other side does not want to take away their right for self-protection. Only put in the checks to reduce the probability of such mindless acts, esp. against children.

The Neanderthal proposal that school teachers be armed is foolish and further exposes their pimp-hood to the gun lobby. An attempt to sell more. Shame!

[montani42]

There are around 260,000,000 guns in the USA in private hands. Senator Feinstein probably just sold 4 to 5 million more high capacity fire arms over the next 4 or 5 days with her rant. No gun owner wants little children to be harmed, but gun bans do not stop mass killings. Locking up the insane will stop a lot of them.

[ludlt]

Trealaryn: you are so right - I'll put the NRA on my A-List.

[montani42]

First of all, guns are not the cause of the horrible killings in Sandy Hook or anywhere else. Insanity is the cause and the politically correct, the ACLU, and the liberals all pushed to get the insane released into community based treatment. There are laws that require the reporting of child abuse, but no law to require the reporting of seriously insane people, many called "troubled" people by the press. The shooter at Virginia Tech had been identified as an insane person, but the judge refused to lock him up. Lock up insane people and there will be far less mass killings.

Second, criminals and the insane do not obey gun laws, only good law abiding citizens do. Therefore all gun laws do is disarm good people or reduce their protection.

Third, insane people who want to kill others will not be stopped by the lack of guns. A can of gasoline and a match will work just as well. A man in China with a knife killed two and slashed 22 small school children the other day. Another Chinese man killed 8 with a knife. Neither could get access to a gun.

Here are some facts from Australia after they enacted a gun ban:

From the National Center For Policy Analysis in 2009:


It is a common fantasy that gun bans make society safer. In 2002 -- five years after enacting its gun ban -- the Australian Bureau of Criminology acknowledged there is no correlation between gun control and the use of firearms in violent crime. In fact, the percent of murders committed
with a firearm was the highest it had ever been in 2006 (16.3 percent), says the D.C. Examiner. Even Australia's Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research acknowledges that the gun ban had no significant impact on the amount of gun-involved crime:

In 2006, assault rose 49.2 percent and robbery 6.2 percent.
Sexual assault -- Australia's equivalent term for rape -- increased 29.9 percent. Overall, Australia's violent crime rate rose 42.2 percent.

[diddy_back_again]

Remember you Marxist, never let a crisis go to waste. We always knew you were after gun control. Now is your chance. Let me ask you Mr. President, was that a gun free zone? Were any of the teachers allowed to carry? Yes...uh...no...uh...maybee? This is a case of mental illness and you are going to use this to push gun control. You are pathetic Mr. President.

[denjudge]

Moron. Yes, it is a case of mental illness, but it is also a case of someone getting ahold of multiple weapons that can shoot many rounds of ammunition within a very short period of time.

You're repeating stupid talking points from gun nuts. I don't know how many times I've heard in the past couple of days "gun free zones....."

YOu want teachers to carry guns? How many teachers would actually carry guns?

You want everyone to go around on the street carrying guns so they can shoot anyone they disagree with or someone who is playing music too loudly?

Your comment is pure bull.

You are pathetic, diddy.

[montani42]

First of all, guns are not the cause of the horrible killings in Sandy Hook or anywhere else. Insanity is the cause and the politically correct, the ACLU, and the liberals all pushed to get the insane released into community based treatment. There are laws that require the reporting of child abuse, but no law to require the reporting of seriously insane people, many called "troubled" people by the press. The shooter at Virginia Tech had been identified as an insane person, but the judge refused to lock him up. Lock up insane people and there will be far less mass killings.

Second, criminals and the insane do not obey gun laws, only good law abiding citizens do. Therefore all gun laws do is disarm good people or reduce their protection.

Third, insane people who want to kill others will not be stopped by the lack of guns. A can of gasoline and a match will work just as well. A man in China with a knife killed two and slashed 22 small school children the other day. Another Chinese man killed 8 with a knife. Neither could get access to a gun.

Here are some facts from Australia after they enacted a gun ban:

From the National Center For Policy Analysis in 2009:


It is a common fantasy that gun bans make society safer. In 2002 -- five years after enacting its gun ban -- the Australian Bureau of Criminology acknowledged there is no correlation between gun control and the use of firearms in violent crime. In fact, the percent of murders committed
with a firearm was the highest it had ever been in 2006 (16.3 percent), says the D.C. Examiner. Even Australia's Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research acknowledges that the gun ban had no significant impact on the amount of gun-involved crime:

In 2006, assault rose 49.2 percent and robbery 6.2 percent.
Sexual assault -- Australia's equivalent term for rape -- increased 29.9 percent. Overall, Australia's violent crime rate rose 42.2 percent.

[Bruwer007]

can you look outside window to see how stupid your argument? gun does kill people, American is the only nation on the earth with the most private held gun, and the most gun related crime - sure, you can say Afghanistan or Iraqi is worst the USA, oh, forgot to mention Syria...

[born2run01]

Running the Manhattan 1/2 Marathon Jan 27 to raise money for the Sandy Hook Elementary School Victims Fund. Please consider donating $26 in memory of the victims, or any amount. The funds are headed to the school's PTSA organization and will be distributed for immediate support for the victim's families and surviving children at the school - Current plans include assistance in paying for funerals, counseling for the children and families and more.

I'm a dad of 4. I can't just sit idly by. I'm part of 'Ryan's Team' on Crowdrise, whose overall goal is to reach $50,000. Thanks for considering...

http://www.crowdrise.com/shsrelief/fundraiser/jasonfried

[bundye]

I'm glad he can shed a tear for those children killed in Conn., ...but where is compassion for marriage as set forth by God?