News

President Obama’s tearful statement about CT shooting

[TRANSCRIPT]

This afternoon, I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel their families.

We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news, I react not as a president, but as anybody else would as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there’s not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do.

The majority of those who died today were children — beautiful, little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.

So our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost.

Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors, as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early and there are no words that will ease their pain.

As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it is an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.

This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter, and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight, and they need all of us right now. In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans, and I will do everything in my power as president to help, because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need, to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories, but also in ours.

May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds.

18 Comments

  • Tim Hawkins

    A thought came to my mind: for those who would donate monies to aid the victims of natural disasters, could those same make donations to church planting churches/ministries/networks to have new churches planted in that area in order to increase gospel witness for the long-term work that will need to be done in the lives of those affected by this tragedy. I suspect that the communitiy/ies affected by this will need a faithful gospel witness to be present there for a long time. If any of Dr. Burk’s readers have been considering doing church planting work, consider this area.

  • volfan007

    “And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” This sounded like a political statement to me…. for gun control. At a time like this, the President was trying to promote his liberal agenda. Sad.

    David Worley

    • Jack Wolford

      That not everyone should legally posses a firearm and that restriction backed by Law is common sense – not Liberal or Conservative or an attack or support on the 2nd Amendment . I belong to the NRA .

      • Keith Caughlin

        The Laws regarding firearms possession are already on the books. There are those who are fully qualified to carry (open or concealed) but they decline to do so to the peril of others. How about a complete ban on firearms. Nobody is allowed to own a firearm. Making them illegal might work. It worked for alcohol in the 20’s and 30’s. It works for heroin and cocaine.

    • Scott terrell

      You’re the one bringing politics into this. It’s a stretch to read even an “oblique” reference to gun control in the President’s statements.

    • James Stanton

      We seem to be having a different mass shooting event every other week. Somehow we have come to the conclusion that this is acceptable.

      I don’t think its a liberal agenda to want to do something to stop this trend. Some people want to stop abortion. Others want to stop a spate of mass killing. Both are meaningful and worthwhile goals.

      I support the right to own guns. However, there is a problem with the extent of the worship of gun culture and absurd faith in the gun as a problem solver. Let’s be free to discuss the issue and all the relevant factors that have led to the increase in such crimes.

  • Paula Bolyard (@pbolyard)

    James said, “We seem to be having a different mass shooting event every other week. Somehow we have come to the conclusion that this is acceptable.

    I’d be interested to know the names of those who “have come to the conclusion” that mass shootings are acceptable. Do you actually know anyone who isn’t heartsick about this? That’s an absurd statement.

    Civil society is held together by fragile strands of trust between humans, some of whom have a propensity to commit acts of great evil. They walk among us every day and we are unaware of their presence. If they determine to act violently and cause mass casualties, they can do so easily with a gun, with a truck, or with a load of fertilizer fashioned into a bomb.

    Last year in Cleveland five men who were part of the Occupy Cleveland movement attempted to blow up a bridge with what they thought was C-4 plastic explosives. They hoped to cause mass casualties but were thwarted when they purchased their supplies from an FBI informant. During the course of the investigation the group discussed purchasing guns at one point. One of the men, Anthony Hayne, dismissed this idea because of his prior felony convictions and settled for basic riot gear and C-4. People determined to cause mass casualties will find a way.

    • James Stanton

      Well, you seem to want clarification so I will attempt to provide it. What I mean is that many express sorrow and outrage about these things when they happen but they don’t seem to want any community action or agitate for any kind of meaningful change to deal with it. Indeed we seem to accept that such events are inevitable and there is nothing we can do to stop it. The evidence for this assumption lies solely with the fact that such events continue and there is no expectation that it will cease. I’m not sure what is absurd about that. It does require deeper thinking.

      “People determined to cause mass casualties will find a way.”

      This is certainly accurate. However, certain weapons and availability of mass quantities of ammunition make it very easy to kill a large number of people in a very short period of time. On the other hand, it is not as easy or as fast to build a bomb and successfully employ it in order to kill large numbers of people.

      Also, this statement reinforces an earlier point. They will find a way therefore there’s really nothing we can do.

      • Paula Bolyard (@pbolyard)

        I don’t think that there’s “nothing” we can do. It’s primarily a moral and cultural problem that we are dealing with and even if we confiscated every weapon in the country it wouldn’t fix that. I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember this, but back in 1982, 7 people died after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol. The crime remains unsolved and it’s the reason we now have tamper-proof packaging on pretty much everything.

        That incident highlights how much trust we put in our fellow man every day that we walk out our front doors. I can easily think of a half dozen ways someone could commit mass casualties just as easily as with a gun. A school bus driver could drive a bus full of people off a bridge. Someone could poison the soft drinks at a restaurant. Someone could drive his SUV into a crowd at a Tea Party rally. Sick people who spend their days and nights fantasizing about such things could probably think of hundreds of other ways. Confiscating guns would merely give us a false sense of security.

  • Greg Griffith

    May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds. -President Obama #Amen

  • Tim Brittain

    “In the last days, perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of the themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good…” Sharing much grief with those who lost so much.

  • James Stanton

    I don’t think confiscation of guns is a reasonable solution. That seems foolish. At the same time guns provide a false sense of security as well. Andrew recommended allowing teachers to carry concealed. This is already allowed in Connecticut.

    I think we should probably start with improving mental health services.

    I don’t think there is much point in hypotheticals about how people can kill other people. Guns will continue to be the preferred method.

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