[h=3]By LAURA MECKLER[/h]NEW ORLEANS—President Barack Obama waded into the topic of gun control Wednesday, saying during a speech he would seek ways to curb gun violence in the wake of the Colorado massacre.
Mr. Obama wasn't specific about what he would call for. He has long supported reinstating the ban on assault weapons, which expired in 2004, and he focused some of his discussion on that subject.
In a speech in New Orleans to the Urban League, a civil-rights organization, the president said he respects gun owners' Second Amendment rights, but he said, "I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree, AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals."
After the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that left six dead and injured others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Mr. Obama also called for an effort to address gun violence. His administration points to modest steps since then to improve background checks, but there is little evidence the White House has made gun control a priority.
After the speech, an Obama aide said there were no plans to push the issue in any particular way because the president recognizes the political hurdles.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney rejected the idea that tougher gun laws could have prevented the deadly rampage Friday in Aurora, Colo., saying in an interview that a legislative remedy wouldn't thwart people who want to cause harm.
"Just having a law saying someone can't do a bad thing doesn't always keep a person from doing a bad thing," Mr. Romney told NBC's Brian Williams in an interview that aired Wednesday evening.
On Wednesday, Mr. Obama spoke about the need to address the matter anew—and in a broader context than shooting sprees like the 1999 massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School, or the 2007 mass shootings on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. "For every Columbine or Virginia Tech, there are dozens gunned down on the streets of Chicago, or Atlanta [or] here in New Orleans."
Mr. Obama said that after high-profile mass shootings, "there's always an outcry for action," and "talk of reforms and legislation." He added: "Too often, those efforts are defeated by politics and lobbying, and eventually by the pull of our collective attention elsewhere."
He said that while dramatic steps have met opposition in Congress for some time, he would work on the issue with members of both parties.
Republicans generally oppose gun control. Many Democrats have come to view it as a loser politically as they work to compete for votes of working-class whites who support gun rights, and as public-opinion surveys have found low support for measures to restrict access to guns.
Write to Laura Meckler at [email protected]
A version of this article appeared July 26, 2012, on page A5 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Obama Wades Into Debate on Guns.
Mr. Obama wasn't specific about what he would call for. He has long supported reinstating the ban on assault weapons, which expired in 2004, and he focused some of his discussion on that subject.
In a speech in New Orleans to the Urban League, a civil-rights organization, the president said he respects gun owners' Second Amendment rights, but he said, "I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree, AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals."
After the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that left six dead and injured others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Mr. Obama also called for an effort to address gun violence. His administration points to modest steps since then to improve background checks, but there is little evidence the White House has made gun control a priority.
After the speech, an Obama aide said there were no plans to push the issue in any particular way because the president recognizes the political hurdles.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney rejected the idea that tougher gun laws could have prevented the deadly rampage Friday in Aurora, Colo., saying in an interview that a legislative remedy wouldn't thwart people who want to cause harm.
"Just having a law saying someone can't do a bad thing doesn't always keep a person from doing a bad thing," Mr. Romney told NBC's Brian Williams in an interview that aired Wednesday evening.
On Wednesday, Mr. Obama spoke about the need to address the matter anew—and in a broader context than shooting sprees like the 1999 massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School, or the 2007 mass shootings on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. "For every Columbine or Virginia Tech, there are dozens gunned down on the streets of Chicago, or Atlanta [or] here in New Orleans."
Mr. Obama said that after high-profile mass shootings, "there's always an outcry for action," and "talk of reforms and legislation." He added: "Too often, those efforts are defeated by politics and lobbying, and eventually by the pull of our collective attention elsewhere."
He said that while dramatic steps have met opposition in Congress for some time, he would work on the issue with members of both parties.
Republicans generally oppose gun control. Many Democrats have come to view it as a loser politically as they work to compete for votes of working-class whites who support gun rights, and as public-opinion surveys have found low support for measures to restrict access to guns.
Write to Laura Meckler at [email protected]
A version of this article appeared July 26, 2012, on page A5 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Obama Wades Into Debate on Guns.