Barack pushes tougher gun laws, action on climate change
14 Feb 2013 5:49 AM IST
US President Barack Obama on Wednesday remembered the victims of several tragic shootouts in the country including that of Oak Tree Gurudwara, seeking tougher gun control laws to prevent such incidents. ‘The families of Newtown deserve a vote. The families of Aurora deserve a vote. The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence they deserve a simple vote,’ Obama said referring to the series of shootouts in various places across the country in the last one year.
It has been two months since Newtown, Obama said referring to the shootout in a school that killed 20 children. ‘I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different,’ he said.
First Lady Michelle had invited police officer Brian Murphy, the hero of the Oak Tree shootout where six Sikh worshippers were killed, for Obama's first State of the Union Address in his second innings at the White House.
‘We should follow the example of a police officer named Brian Murphy. When a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and Brian was the first to arrive, he did not consider his own safety. He fought back until help arrived, and ordered his fellow officers to protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside even as he lay bleeding from twelve bullet wounds,’ Obama said.
In a stern message over the dangers being posed by climate change, the US on Wednesday pledged to take unilateral action if the Congress refuses to back him, asserting that the country must ‘act before, it’s too late.’ ‘For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change,’ Obama said in his annual State of the Union Address the first of his second term. Though it is true that no single event makes a trend, Obama said the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. ‘Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods all are now more frequent and intense. We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to act before it’s too late,’ he said.
It has been two months since Newtown, Obama said referring to the shootout in a school that killed 20 children. ‘I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different,’ he said.
First Lady Michelle had invited police officer Brian Murphy, the hero of the Oak Tree shootout where six Sikh worshippers were killed, for Obama's first State of the Union Address in his second innings at the White House.
‘We should follow the example of a police officer named Brian Murphy. When a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and Brian was the first to arrive, he did not consider his own safety. He fought back until help arrived, and ordered his fellow officers to protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside even as he lay bleeding from twelve bullet wounds,’ Obama said.
In a stern message over the dangers being posed by climate change, the US on Wednesday pledged to take unilateral action if the Congress refuses to back him, asserting that the country must ‘act before, it’s too late.’ ‘For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change,’ Obama said in his annual State of the Union Address the first of his second term. Though it is true that no single event makes a trend, Obama said the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. ‘Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods all are now more frequent and intense. We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to act before it’s too late,’ he said.
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