Obama renews call for gun control on anniversary of Navy Yard shooting
By Justin Sink
TheHill.com
09/16/14
President Obama called on Americans to renew the push for gun-control legislation in a statement Tuesday marking the one-year anniversary of the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard.
“One year ago, 12 Americans went to work to protect and strengthen the country they loved,” Obama said. “Today, we must do the same — rejecting atrocities like these as the new normal and renewing our call for common-sense reforms that respect our traditions while reducing the gun violence that shatters too many American families every day.”
The 2013 shooting at the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command left 12 individuals and the lone shooter, a civilian contractor, dead. Eight others were injured in the attack, the second deadliest mass murder on a U.S. military facility.
Obama called the incident an “unspeakable act of violence” in his statement, and said work continued “to improve security at our country’s bases and installations to protect our military and civilian personnel who help keep us safe.”
Following the shooting, the president ordered a government review of security clearance procedures for contractors and employees across federal agencies.
At the time, then-White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama was also “continuing to push the cause” of gun control. Asked whether President Obama would undertake a renewed push on gun control following the shooting, the White House spokesman said such questions should be “asked not just here but in Congress to those senators who voted no during last spring’s push for expanded background checks.”
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