Two days after President Barack Obama informed the nation of his executive action to strengthen gun control with more background checks, tighter rules on who can sell guns, and more research into technologies to make guns safer, he's addressing the nation again in an op-ed written for the New York Times.
In that piece, Obama writes about his personal responsibility as "a citizen" to ensure that his successors continue to address the issue, and how he'll personally work toward that.
I will not campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform. And if the 90 percent of Americans who do support common-sense gun reforms join me, we will elect the leadership we deserve.
He also took aim at gun manufacturers, who he writes, have spent decades immune from lawsuits and averse to adding safety features to their products because of the "gun lobby's decades of efforts" to shield them, all while making it "harder for the government’s public health experts to conduct research on gun violence."
He also called for research into "microstamping for ammunition, which can help trace bullets found at crime scenes to specific guns."
As Americans, we hold consumer goods to high standards to keep our families and communities safe. Cars have to meet safety and emissions requirements. Food has to be clean and safe. We will not end the cycle of gun violence until we demand that the gun industry take simple actions to make its products safer as well. If a child can’t open a bottle of aspirin, we should also make sure she can’t pull the trigger of a gun.
He ended the essay on an encouraging note, writing that gun reform is possible even if it seems like a long and difficult road, and referring to examples not-so-distant American history as proof.
Change will be hard. It won’t happen overnight. But securing a woman’s right to vote didn’t happen overnight. The liberation of African-Americans didn’t happen overnight. Advancing the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans has taken decades’ worth of work.
You can read the entire piece at the New York Times.
