Obama: U.S. Needs 'Sense of Urgency' to Fight Gun Violence
(CNN) - President Barack Obama said Tuesday that despite his executive actions bypassing Congress on guns, lawmakers still need to address the issue.
"Congress still needs to act," Obama said from the White House, surrounded by victims of gun violence and their families. "The folks in this room will not rest until Congress does. Because once Congress gets on board with common-sense gun safety measures, we can reduce gun violence a whole lot."
"But we also can't wait," Obama added. "Until we have the Congress that's in line with the majority of Americans, there are actions within my legal authority that we can take to help reduce gun violence and save more lives."
12:04 p.m. - Obama defended his actions to strengthen background checks for purchasing guns, answering critics who say the measure would not make it harder for criminals to obtain firearms.
"Each time this comes up, we are fed the excuse that common-sense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, or the one before that, so why bother trying," Obama said. "I reject that thinking."
"We know we can't stop every act of violence, every act of evil in the world. But maybe we could try to stop one act of evil, one act of violence," he added.