As Barack Obama prepares to serve his second term as president of the United States, he spoke with David Gregory on NBC’s Meet the Press about what he describes as the worst day of his presidency.
“I think anybody who was up in Newtown, who talked to the parents, who talked to the families understands that something fundamental in America has to change,” he said of the December 14th shooting that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. “This is something that was the worst day of my presidency, and it’s not something that I want to see repeated.”
President Obama said his current challenge is to ensure this “does not just become another one of these routine episodes where it gets a lot of attention for a couple of weeks and then it drifts away.”
“All of us have to do some soul searching, including me as president, that we allow a situation in which 20 precious small children are getting gunned down in a classroom,” he said.
Since the tragedy there has been much talk, and conflicting opinions, on how to prevent mass shootings from happening in the future. The National Rifle Association recently held a press conference where they suggested stationing armed guards at every school. Although the president said he is not going to prejudge recommendations that are given to him, he said he’s “skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools.”
“I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem,” he said. “And, look, here’s the bottom line. We’re not going to get this done unless the American people decide it’s important.”