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Spurred by a horrific elementary school shooting, President Barack Obama tasked his administration Wednesday with digging into the complex issue and coming out with some concrete proposals to reduce gun violence. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Obama: 'The fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse'

BY Jamie Skorheim  on December 19, 2012 @ 10:43 am (Updated: 12:14 pm - 12/19/12 )

Spurred by a horrific elementary school shooting, President Barack Obama tasked his administration Wednesday with digging into the complex issue and coming out with some concrete proposals to reduce gun violence.

In a discussion on KIRO Radio's Ross and Burbank Show immediately following the president's announcement, host Luke Burbank said he thought the president had a useful focus in the message about doing what we can.

"What the president said is if there's one thing we can do, we have to do it," said Burbank. "I feel like the perfect has become the enemy of the good in this conversation a lot of the time."

Obama said we may never know all the reasons for the deadly shooting in Newtown, Conn. But that we do know that every day since, more Americans have died of gun violence.

"We know such violence has terrible consequences for our society, and if there is even one thing that we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation, all of us, to try," Obama said.

The president, who exerted little political capital on gun control during his first term, also pressed Congress to reinstate an assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. He also called for stricter background checks for people who seek to purchase weapons and limited high capacity clips.

"The fact that we can't prevent every act of violence doesn't mean we can't steadily reduce the violence," said Obama.

Appealing to gun owners, Obama said he believes in the Second Amendment and the country's strong tradition of gun ownership. And he said "the vast majority of gun owners in America are responsible."

"I am also betting that the majority, the vast majority, of responsible law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few from buying a weapon of war," Obama said.

In the tragedy in Newtown, 20 children and six adults were killed when a man carrying a military-style rifle stormed Sandy Hook Elementary.

Burbank said he's always been on the side of assault weapons being a type of weaponry that should be reserved for war.

"They're not made for people to carry around in densely populated areas of this country," he said. "People say sometimes, 'Well yeah but that's only 2 percent of the crimes that are committed that's not going to fix everything.' And it isn't, but it's something. And to me we can't shoot down ideas that will make a small difference because they're not going to solve the entire problem."

"This time, the words need to lead to action," Obama said. He tasked Vice President Joe Biden with leading an administration-wide effort to create the new recommendations and pledged to push for their implementation without delay.

Obama also tasked the Biden-led team with considering ways to improve mental health resources and address ways to create a culture that doesn't promote violence. The departments of Justice, Education, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, along with outside groups and lawmakers, will all be part of the process.

Biden's prominent role in the process could be an asset for the White House in getting gun legislation through Congress. The vice president spent decades in the Senate and has been called on by Obama before to use his long-standing relationships with lawmakers to build support for White House measures.

The president challenged the National Rifle Association, the country's most powerful gun lobby and key backer of many Republican politicians, to join the broader effort to reduce gun violence as well.

"Hopefully they'll do some self-reflection," Obama said of the NRA.

The NRA made its first comments since the shooting on Tuesday, promising to offer "meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."

Obama said that while taking the necessary steps to reduce gun violence would take commitment and compromise, he said it could be achieved if Washington summons "even one tiny iota of the courage of those teachers, that principal in Newtown summoned on Friday."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jamie Skorheim, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Whether it's floating on Green Lake, eating shrimp tacos at Agua Verde, or taking weekend drives out to the Cascades, she loves to enjoy the Pacific Northwest lifestyle as much as humanly possible.
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Comments (67)


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  • Lonestar wrote...
    This from the guy bragging about murdering Bin Ladin
    December 19, 2012 12:34 pm
    And four other people including a woman. And drones don't exactly know how to differentiate between terrorists, children, and innocent bystanders. I beleive this is what is called situational ethics.
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  • murr wrote...
    'The fact that this problem is complex can no longer be an excuse'Like the fiscal cliff that you brought this country too.
    December 19, 2012 12:35 pm
    No thanks you i'll pass on the koolaid, serve it to a dependent that will vote for you.
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  • cdbtx wrote...
    If there's one thing we can do
    December 19, 2012 12:47 pm
    to reduce the deaths of innocent children as a result of "Drunk Drivers" - then we should do it?

    Mandatory breathalizers in order to start cars? Ban alcohol?

    Ideological Predators... preying on the grief of others to promote their ideology... Where and when does it stop?

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    cdbtx - it never stops.
    December 19, 2012 5:38 pm
    every legal or voter victory for these people just means they will keep pushing their agenda. I doubt that even total victory would satisfy them.
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  • Cigarillo wrote...
    @cdbtx
    December 19, 2012 8:44 pm
    dI will be stealing your phrase "Ideological Predators" and putting it to good use.
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  • RonJ wrote...
    Obama is a dolt
    December 19, 2012 12:50 pm
    "I am also betting that the majority, the vast majority, of responsible law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few from buying a weapon of war," It's already against the law for those who have broken the law to buy a gun. There's nothing new here.
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  • Zoeller wrote...
    "if there's one thing we can do"
    December 19, 2012 12:56 pm
    How about OB and his gang of thugs start enforcing the laws that are already on the books, just maybe then we can we start talking about new laws. Why make new laws when they won't even enforce the current laws. Just more of same old OB drooling all over himself.
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  • Danutdlp wrote...
    Obama best gun salesmen of all time!
    December 19, 2012 1:24 pm
    You know, I heard someone say that Obama and his anti gun views has become one of the greatest gun salesmen of all time. Its very true... I grew up in a family that was against firearms and still is. This tragedy and the strong anti gun movements following this tragedy have finally pushed me to go out and break my family tradition and buy my first firearm. Pretty soon we wont be allowed to purchase firearms anymore....
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  • Saltchucker wrote...
    An act of desperation.
    December 19, 2012 1:54 pm
    Obama had a chance to avoid being a lame duck for the next two years by negotiating with Congress over the fiscal cliff. Negotiation is mandatory. His party does not control the House and the Democrats do not even have the votes in the Senate to stop a filibuster. The President has opted to go "My way or the highway" and casts insults and rhetoric on his opposition rather than bringing his own party into line. Compromise comes from both sides, not one. Now we have the Sandy Hook tradgedy. Does the President call out the 46 states who cut their mental health budgets to the bone? No he hops right on to the gun control band wagon that the left has been offering hay rides on since he was elected the first time. Yet the votes to pass gun control legislation ARE NOT THRERE! Yet he caves to left to repeat history. Clinton expended enorous amounts of political capital to pass the assault weapons ban and the Republicans took over both the House and the Senate two years later. Obama can't afford that.
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  • Gar57 wrote...
    Armed to the teeth
    December 19, 2012 2:14 pm
    America is the most armed and lethal nation to ever populate the planet. Yet we can't protect 5 year olds from lunatics who somehow get ahold of the arsenal. We are an international sick joke.
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  • Saltchucker wrote...
    Hardly a joke.
    December 19, 2012 2:28 pm
    Do we have pirates off our coast holding merchant ships for ransom? Do we have walled off ghettos filled with people desperate to rule themselves like Palestine? Do we have ethnic cleansing like what happened in what used to be Yugoslavia? Is our government bombing refugee camps suspected of harboring insurgents like the Syrians are? When was the last time a roadside bomb went off on I-5? I'm currently reading a book about the Russian Revolution. Do we have pogrom after pogrom killing off those who disagree with us? No. We do have to address issues like these when they come up because we ARE a civilized and enlightened society, but casting the United Staes and it's people as such dregs of world society that we are a " international sick joke" is beyond the pale.
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  • Saltchucker wrote...
    woops
    December 19, 2012 2:28 pm
    United States, not Staes. sorry!
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  • Zoeller wrote...
    Gar57: That is the case because-
    December 19, 2012 2:29 pm
    Democrats pee in their pants every time they hear the mere mention of the word (gun) and they have now created all of these so called safe haven (Gun Free Zones) that leave our children and other law-abiding citizens completely vulnerable to these types of attacks from whack jobs like this one with no possibly way for them to be defended. (Gun Free Zones) Only apply to law-abiding citizens and never to criminals.
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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Armed to the teeth
    December 19, 2012 3:09 pm
    This poster is a fool! America is not armed to the teeth. Al quada is. Militant Muslims are. These are our enemies. If these people were loose in our nation, we would see massacre's like this almost every day. A public event. An evil that Obama supports and does not appear to want to stop from happening here.

    Law abiding gun owning Americans did not do this. A person filled with Satan, and the gun who hand Satan guided at those children and then himself, are responsible!

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  • CH wrote...
    "My way or the highway" . . . .
    December 19, 2012 3:26 pm
    read my lips republicans - we won! It's OUR_ way or the highway. Plan B DOA. Law abiding gun owning Americans did not do this. How do you know? Did you ask Satan?
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Dang it, CH............
    December 19, 2012 6:46 pm
    You having another bad trip now?
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