Former President Barack Obama seemingly shamed his successor in a tweet Thursday calling for stricter gun control laws in light of the nation’s latest school shooting.
‘We are grieving with Parkland,’ Obama began. ‘But we are not powerless.’
‘Caring for our kids is our first job. And until we can honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep them safe from harm, including long overdue, common-sense gun safety laws that most Americans wants, then we have to change,’ Obama said.
The ex-president made his comments on the heels of President Trump making his own statement, in which he never uttered the word ‘guns.’
Trump, speaking to the American people from the Diplomatic Reception Room, labeled the killing of 17 students and teachers ‘terrible violence, hatred and evil’ while calling for a change in the ‘culture.’
President Obama, seen at a White House event in January 2016 announcing executive action he planned to take on guns, again walked into the gun control debate in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting with a tweet Thursday urging Americans to act
After President Trump made brief remarks about the Parkland school shooting, former President Obama took to Twitter to call for ‘common-sense gun safety laws,’ noting that people aren’t ‘powerless’ to make a change
‘Every time I think of those kids, it gets me mad,’ President Obama said on January 5, 2016 remembering the first-grade victims of the December 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. He’s referred to that day as the worst of his presidency
White House photographer Pete Souza captured the moment President Obama (left) was informed about the Sandy Hook massacre in December 2012 by his national security adviser John Brennan (right)
‘We must also work together to create a culture in our country that embraces the dignity of life, that creates deep and meaningful human connections, and that turns classmates and colleagues into friends and neighbors,’ President Trump said.
Earlier in the day Trump had tweeted that the shooter was ‘mentally disturbed.’
‘Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!’ the president urged.
The FBI reportedly received two threat reports on shooter Nikolas Cruz before Wednesday’s murder-spree.
Besides Trump, other Republicans have also tried to keep the issue of gun control at bay.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said in radio interviews today that it was too early to talk about new laws.
‘There’s more questions than answers at this stage,’ he told WIBC’s Tom Katz, according to Reuters. ‘I don’t think that means you then roll that conversation into taking away citizens’ rights – taking away a law-abiding citizen’s rights.’
‘Obviously this conversation typically goes there,’ Ryan continued. ‘Right now, I think we need to take a breath and collect the facts.’
While Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida – the site of the latest school shooting – suggested a killer’s determination will always prevail against gun laws.
‘I’m trying to be clear and honest here, someone who has decided to commit this crime, they will find a way to get the gun to do it,’ Rubio said Thursday.
A year before President Obama left office the Democrat was visibly rattled by Congress’ inability to get something done on the issue of guns.
During a January 2016 event announcing some executive action he planned to take, Obama wiped away tears when talking about the massacre at Sandy Hook, which left 20 first-graders and six school staffers dead.
‘Every time I think of those kids, it gets me mad,’ the then-president said.
‘And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day,’ Obama said of his adopted hometown.
Obama has also said that the day of the Sandy Hook shootings, December 14, 2012, was the low point of his presidency.
Obama shed tears from the White House briefing room podium that day too.
His official White House photographer Pete Souza, in an interview this past December, recalled capturing the shot of Obama first learning of the massacre from Homeland Security adviser John Brennan.
‘In the picture, you see just kind of the energy just zap out of the president,’ Souza told Business Insider.
‘I think he was thinking of this not only as a president, but imagining what it must be like as a parent,’ Souza continued.
‘The horror of sending your six-year-old kid off to school, you put [them] on the school bus, and you never see them again because some crazy guy shot them to death, point-blank, at their school,’ Souza said.