TORONTO – In a heartfelt address to the town of Newtown on Sunday, President Barack Obama called for “meaningful action” to prevent any more massacres like the one at Sandy Hook elementary school.
"Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard,” said Obama during the memorial. “Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?"
Obama did not directly address gun control laws in his speech Sunday, but he did make it clear that the deaths compel the U.S. to act and that he was the leader of a nation that was failing to keep its children safe.
He spoke of a broader effort, never outlining exactly what he would push for, but expressed outrage by yet another shooting rampage.
Connecticut’s tragedy has sparked a renewed push to bring back the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.
"We ought to make sure we ban the assault weapons, limit the number of bullets in a clip, and prevent mentally ill people from getting guns," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn) added that something needs to be done, “at the very least maybe about the high capacity magazines used in this crime.”
Adam Lanza, the suspect in the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, is believed to have used a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, a civilian version of the military's M-16 and a model commonly seen at marksmanship competitions.
Versions of the AR-15 were outlawed in the United States under the 1994 assault weapons ban; but Congress, in a nod to the political power of the gun-rights lobby, did not renew it.
Gun rights activists have remained largely quiet, all but one declining to appear on Sunday talk shows.
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), defended the sale of assault weapons in an interview on "Fox News Sunday," and said that the principal at Sandy Hook, who authorities say died trying to overtake the shooter, should herself have been armed.
A U.S. senator and lifelong member of the National Rifle Association became the most prominent gun rights advocate to speak after last week's school shooting, saying Monday it was time for all sides in the debate to move beyond the political rhetoric and begin an honest discussion about reasonable restrictions on guns.
"Never before have we seen our babies slaughtered. It's never happened in America that I can recall, seeing this carnage," Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) told MSNBC. "Anybody that's a proud gun owner, a proud member of the NRA, they're also proud parents, they're proud grandparents. They understand this has changed where we go from here."
Some lawmakers are saying that the gun control debate will be the first on their agenda come January.
"It will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession. Not retroactively but prospectively. And it will ban the same for big clips, drums or strips of more than 10 bullets," senior Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told NBC News.
New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who called on Obama to act after the deadly mass shooting at a movie theatre in Aurora, again urged the President to look closely at gun laws.
According to a report by New York Daily News, Bloomberg urged the Obama administration to enforce the current gun laws in place, as well as closing the loophole that allows people to buy weapons at gun shows without a background check.
Bloomberg spoke at a press conference Monday addressing the importance of ending gun violence with a campaign called “Demand a Plan.” The website features videos from family members of victims of gun violence and urges citizens to sign petitions and contact their members of congress to join the conversation about gun control.
The Demand a Plan initiative estimates that 48,000 Americans will be killed with guns during Obama’s second term.
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