Carolyn —
Our hearts broke on Friday as we learned of the tragic and senseless deaths of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Last night, President Obama addressed the families of Newtown, offering the love and prayers of a nation, and vowing to use whatever power his office holds to protect our children from such unthinkable acts of violence.
He spoke from the heart — as a president and a parent. Watch his speech:
http://my.barackobama.com/Newtown
As we reflect on the lives lost last week, we must also, as the President urged, consider how each of us can play a part in making our country worthy of the memory of those little children.
I hope you and the ones you love have a happy and safe holiday.
Thanks,
David
Email sent December 17, 2012 • www.barackobama.com • Read the full remarks by the President, here.
More on Gun Control
A Few Remedies for the Right to Bear Arms
Jane Smiley
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist and Essayist
Posted: 12/18/2012 12:37 pm
Last night at dinner, my husband said, “There’s no solution.” We were talking, of course, about gun control, and it is true that the flood of guns and ammo into our neighborhoods and our nation is daunting. There is no solution. But the first thing I thought of was my mother and me, driving along back in 1954 in her 1953 Studebaker, windows closed, winter day, Mom’s cigarette burning in the ash tray. Mom was a smoker. My grandfather was a smoker. My aunts were smokers. My uncles were smokers. I don’t know any smokers now, not even my mom.
My mom was paranoid about my safety. That Studebaker was one of the first cars in the U.S. to have seat belts, and my mom made me put it on every time we drove (it went from the passenger’s side to the driver’s side, one long strip). She watched who I played with, and made me keep in touch. When she learned about secondhand smoke, she altered her smoking behaviors so as not to endanger her children, and she eventually removed herself from the thrall of the tobacco industry. Who says people can’t learn?