Obama tears up during emotional gun-control speech
Surrounded by gun-control advocates and family members of victims of gun violence, Obama laid out the rationale behind his recently announced slate of executive actions on guns.
"Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad," Obama said, referencing the 2013 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
As the audience applauded, the president raised his voice, rattling off a number of high-profile shootings.
"Our unalienable right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those rights were stripped from college kids in Blacksburg and Santa Barbara," Obama said. "And from high schoolers at Columbine. And from first graders in Newtown. First graders. And from every family who never imagined that their loved one would be taken by a bullet from a gun."
The president unveiled the specifics of his plan, explaining the newly clarified rules that narrow the types of individual "private" gun sellers that can sell guns without subjecting their buyers to a background checks, and noting that the FBI would hire 230 new agents to help process background checks.
"Anybody in the business of selling firearms must get a license ... or be subject to criminal prosecutions," Obama said. "It doesn't matter whether you're doing it over the Internet or a gun show."
Obama also slammed critics of his push for gun-control measures.
The president said states loosening gun control restrictions, specifically Missouri, had, according to some studies, seen an increased likelihood of gun violence.
Obama also blasted some Republican presidential candidates who have criticized the president's plan.
"Contrary to claims of some presidential candidates apparently before this meeting, this is not a plot to take away everybody's guns. You pass a background check, you can purchase a firearm," he said.
He later added, to raucous applause: "The gun lobby may be holding Congress hostage right now, but they cannot hold America hostage.
"We do have to feel a sense of urgency about it," Obama added. "Because people are dying and the constant excuses for inaction no longer suffice. That's why we're here today. Not to debate the last mass shooting, but to do something to try and prevent the next one."