Washington for News Talk Florida – President Barack Obama on Thursday said a mass shooting at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., should be a wake-up call for America to confront the issue of gun violence. In a short but very emotional statement, the president stated that Washington has been unwilling to enact changes to the nation’s gun laws following a series of mass shootings.
In the text of his prepared statement he was quite clear and to the point with his remarks.
“Now is a time for mourning and for healing, but let’s be clear: at some point, we as a country we will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence doesn’t happen in other advanced countries,” Obama said.
Nine people were killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston Wednesday night after a shooter allegedly opened fire on congregants about an hour after services began.
The Department of Justice launched a hate-crime investigation into the shooting. State authorities are conducting a separate probe in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The suspect, identified as Dylann Storm Roof, a 21-year-old white man, was taken into custody Thursday morning.
President Obama has been confronted with several high-profile mass shootings during his presidency, including ones in Tucson, Ariz; Aurora, Colo; and Newtown, Conn.
Thursday marked the fourteenth time the president made a statement on a shooting attack, according to CBS News reporter and unofficial White House historian Mark Knoller.
At the president’s side in the White House Press Briefing Room, Vice President Joe Biden hung his head mournfully in his first public appearance since the June 6 funeral of his eldest child, Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer.
Biden later said in a statement that he had just seen Pinckney less than a year ago. “Our hearts ache with sorrow with the entire Emanuel AME Church family as they seek solace and comfort in the shadow of a gunman’s act of pure evil and hatred,” Biden said. “Our love and prayers are with them … We have no doubt the coward who committed this heinous act will be brought to justice. But as a nation we must confront the ravages of gun violence and the stain of hatred that continues to be visited on our streets, in our schools, in our houses of worship, and in our communities.”
