--- title: Lack of Change in Gun Laws Has Been 'Distressing,' Obama Says description: Failure to pass "common-sense gun-safety laws" during his presidency has ranked among his greatest frustrations, Barack Obama says canonical: https://time.com/3970580/obama-guns-gun-control/ author: Alissa Greenberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-24T04:38:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:30.581Z article:section: Politics og:title: Lack of Change in Gun Laws 'Distressing,' Obama Says og:description: Gun laws have caused the most frustration during his presidency, he revealed. og:url: https://time.com/3970580/obama-guns-gun-control/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858874a816e7deff/69885c45428a9eb718cce512/481691588.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Michelle Obama Hosts 2015 Beating The Odds Summit At White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lack of Change in Gun Laws 'Distressing,' Obama Says twitter:description: Gun laws have caused the most frustration during his presidency, he revealed. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858874a816e7deff/69885c45428a9eb718cce512/481691588.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Lack of Change in Gun Laws During His Presidency Has Been 'Distressing,' Obama Says > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Five Years of Obama's State of the Union [Watch (HLS stream): Five Years of Obama's State of the Union](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kvaKb5nc.m3u8) (1:29)  _Published 2015-01-19. Watch 5 years of Obama’s State of the Union addresses in 90 seconds._ by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Jul 24, 2015 4:38 AM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama greets guests during a surprise visit to First Lady Michelle Obama's event on higher education in the East Room of the White House July 23, 2015 U.S. President Barack Obama greets guests during a surprise visit to First Lady Michelle Obama's event on higher education in the East Room of the White House July 23, 2015 Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Jul 24, 2015 4:38 AM UTC Failure to pass what he called “common-sense gun-safety laws” during his tenure in the White House has ranked among his greatest frustrations, Barack Obama has [told](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33646704) the BBC, in a wide-ranging interview covering much of the last years of his presidency. Obama said he felt he had made strides in many political arenas but that it was “distressing” not to have affected significant change in gun laws “even in the face of repeated mass killings.” With less than two years left in power, Obama said guns were the policy area that made him feel “most frustrated and most stymied. “If you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it’s less than 100,” he said. “If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it’s in the tens of thousands.” During a turbulent summer that saw nine African Americans [killed](http://time.com/3926112/charleston-shooting-latest/) at a South Carolina prayer meeting in June, Obama told reporters that “politics in \[Washington\]” precluded most options for change in gun control policy. The BBC interview was conducted previous to the July 23 [shooting](http://time.com/3970576/shooting-louisiana-movie-theater/) at a movie theater in Louisiana and did not touch on that event. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33646704)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3970580/obama-guns-gun-control/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3970580/obama-guns-gun-control/"},"headline":"The Lack of Change in Gun Laws During His Presidency Has Been 'Distressing,' Obama Says","datePublished":"2015-07-24T04:38:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:30.581Z","description":"The President spoke of feeling \"most frustrated and most stymied\" over the issue","url":"https://time.com/3970580/obama-guns-gun-control/","keywords":["White House","Obama","Gun Control","Guns","u.s. politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858874a816e7deff/69885c45428a9eb718cce512/481691588.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alissa Greenberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858874a816e7deff/69885c45428a9eb718cce512/481691588.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Michelle Obama Hosts 2015 Beating The Odds Summit At White House","caption":"Michelle Obama Hosts 2015 Beating The Odds Summit At White House","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3970580/obama-guns-gun-control/","name":"The Lack of Change in Gun Laws During His Presidency Has Been 'Distressing,' Obama Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Five Years of Obama's State of the Union","description":"Watch 5 years of Obama’s State of the Union addresses in 90 seconds.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/kvaKb5nc/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-01-19T19:19:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kvaKb5nc.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3970580/obama-guns-gun-control/","duration":"PT1M29S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3970580/obama-guns-gun-control/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```