Sad to say, he's had a bit of practice at this.
As news of yet another mass shooting in the US reverberated around the globe, President Obama was forced to take to the stand yet again to address the nation and try to make some sense of the tragic events in Oregon, where nine people have died and seven more have been injured following the actions of a lone gunman.
The statistics are, frankly, astonishing. Since Obama was reelected in 2012, there have been 993 mass shootings - defined as an event in which four or more people are shot. In 2015 alone there have been 294 - almost one every day.
The President, of course, made his big stand for gun control following the shootings at Sandy Hook in December 2012, when 20 children and 6 teachers were massacred.
However, he was unsuccessful, as the powerful anti-gun lobby stymied any hope of change. Since then, his addresses - there have been 15 either in person or via statement in his Presidency - have grown increasingly weary and resigned, although always emotional.
The latest, however, was his most succinct, direct, honest, angry, sad and 'best' yet, as befits a President who only has a year left to serve and is, perhaps, unafraid to speak his mind a little more than usual.
“Our thoughts and prayers are not enough... Somehow, this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation in the aftermath of it. We’ve become numb to this ... We talked about this after Columbine and Blacksburg; after Tucson, after Newtown; after Aurora, after Charleston. It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun. "And what’s become routine, of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of common-sense gun legislation. Right now, I can imagine the press releases being cranked out: We need more guns, they’ll argue. Fewer gun safety laws. "Does anybody really believe that?"
Could this finally be a watershed moment? Watch the powerful address below and decide for yourself.
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