President Barack Obama has announced he’ll hold a town-hall meeting on guns Thursday, after he meets with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday about possible executive actions to curb gun violence.
The meeting will focus on gun violence in the wake of the Dec. 2 San Bernardino shooting that killed 14 people. In the weeks since the shooting, Obama has shifted his focus to the American response to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), the New York Times reports, but this town-hall meeting will signify a return to his original reaction to the shooting, which was to emphasize the need for stricter gun restrictions. The meeting will be aired at 8 p.m. on CNN on Thursday night.
The President also called for more action on gun violence in his weekly address.
“It would be better for our security if it was harder for terrorists to purchase very powerful weapons,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters in a press briefing Saturday, adding that citizens arming themselves would likely not prevent future terrorist attacks. “That’s why they have a government,” Rhodes said. “They have a government to provide security against the threat of terrorism.”
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Write to Charlotte Alter at charlotte.alter@time.com