I have to say that people often ask me, you know, how has it been being president? What am I proudest of, and what are my biggest disappointments?
I've got two and a half years left. My biggest frustration so far has been that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do just unbelievable damage.
We're the only developed country on earth where this happens. And it happens now once a week. And it's a one day story. There's no place else like this.
A couple of decades ago, Australia had a ma** shooting, similar to Columbine or Newtown, and Australia just said, "Well that's it, we're not seeing that again," and basically imposed very severe, tough gun laws. And they haven't had a ma** shooting since.
Our levels of gun violence are off the charts. There's no advanced developed country that would put up with this.
Now we have a different tradition. We have a second amendment. We have historically respected gun rights. I respect gun rights. But the idea that, for example, we couldn't even get a background check bill in to make sure that, if you're going to buy a weapon, you have to actually go through a fairly rigorous process, so we know who you are, so you can't just walk up to a store and buy a semi-automatic weapon. It makes no sense.
I don't know if anyone saw the brief press conference from the father of the young man who had been k**ed in Santa Barbara. As a father myself, I could not understand the pain he must be going through, and just the primal scream that he gave out.
Why aren't we doing something about this?
I will tell you, I have been in Washington for a while now and most things don't surprise me. The fact that 20 six-year-olds were gunned down in the most violent fashion possible, and this town couldn't do anything about it, was stunning to me. And so the question then becomes, what can we do about it?
The only thing that's gonna change is public opinion. If public opinion does not demand change in Congress, it will not change. I've initiated over 20 executive actions to try to tighten up some of the rules and the laws, but the bottom line is that we don't have enough tools right now to really make as big a dent as we need to.
Most members of Congress -- and I have to say to some degree this is bipartisan -- are terrified of the NRA. The combination of the NRA and gun manufacturers are very well financed and have the capacity to move votes in local elections and congressional elections. And so if you're running for office right now, that's where you feel the heat.
And people on the other side may be generally favorable towards things like background checks and other common sense rules, but they're not as motivated, so that doesn't end up being the issue that a lot of you vote on. Until that changes, until there is a fundamental shift in public opinion in which people say, "Enough, this is not acceptable, this is not normal. This isn't the price we should be paying for our freedom. We can have respect for the second amendment, and responsible gun owners, and sportsmen and hunters can have the ability to possess weapons, but we are going to put some common sense rules in place that make a dent at least in what's happening."
Until that is not just the majority of you -- because that's already the majority view, even the majority of gun owners feel that way -- but until that's a view that people feel pa**ionately about and are willing to go after people who don't vote reflecting those values, until that happens, sadly not that much is going to change.
A lot of people will say, "Well, theres a mental health problem, it's not a gun problem."
The United States does not have a monopoly on crazy people. It's not the only country that has psychosis, and yet, we k** each other in these ma** shootings at rates that are exponentially higher than any place else.
Well, whats the difference? The difference is that these guys can stack up a bunch of ammunition in their houses, and that's sort of par for the course.
The country has to do some soul searching about this. This is becoming the norm. We take it for granted in ways that, as a parent, are terrifying to me.
I am prepared to work with anybody, including responsible sportsmen and gun owners, to craft some solutions, but right now it's not even possible to get even the mildest restrictions on guns, and we should be ashamed of that.