--- title: President Obama Tackles Gun Control in First Week Back description: After two weeks away, Obama's taking on gun control to kick off final year canonical: https://time.com/4166010/president-obama-gun-control/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-04T16:01:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:40:35.870Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Starts Final Year in Office by Tackling Gun Control og:description: Obama is considering taking executive action on gun control og:url: https://time.com/4166010/president-obama-gun-control/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8be164acfbf3d7f3/698877632dce011cdd9e72a0/502016172.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: President Obama Visits San Bernardino og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Starts Final Year in Office by Tackling Gun Control twitter:description: Obama is considering taking executive action on gun control twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8be164acfbf3d7f3/698877632dce011cdd9e72a0/502016172.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Starts Final Year in Office by Tackling Gun Control > Sponsored content. 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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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=8dc16dd6-b2b4-4b3d-90c9-e99f4e93ca0b&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Obama Reacts to Mass Shootings Over the Years [Watch (HLS stream): Obama Reacts to Mass Shootings Over the Years](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jAka99M0.m3u8) (2:02)  _Published 2016-01-04_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 4, 2016 4:01 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jan 4, 2016 4:01 PM UTC Fresh off a two-week vacation, President Obama is spending his first week back at the White House talking gun control. On Monday, the President is meeting in the Oval Office with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and the deputy director of the ATF to discuss executive actions he can take to combat gun violence in America, and on Thursday he will participate in a gun control town hall discussion hosted by [CNN.](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/03/politics/barack-obama-guns-town-hall/) President Obama began reconsidering taking executive action on gun control in the wake of the mass shooting at an Oregon community college. At the time, Obama was reportedly [considering a reboot](http://time.com/4068040/barack-obama-gun-control-executive-actions/) of a 2013 proposal that would expand the definition of who is considered a gun dealer and is therefore required conduct background checks on potential buyers. An administration official said in October that the timing on the gun executive action was up in the air, but it seems to be taking center stage as the President kicks off the first week of his final year in office. Obama has had no luck getting substantive gun control legislation passed in Congress, despite a series of mass shootings during his second term. Over the course of his two terms in office, Obama has delivered speeches on gun violence in the wake of [nearly a dozen tragedies](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/10/02/11-mass-shootings-11-speeches-how-obama-has-responded/73177526/). He usually struck a somber tone, but following the Oregon college shooting in October he was visibly angered by the fact that he was discussing the same issue yet again. The bulk of his frustration has been directed at Congress, which hasn’t budged on gun control during Obama’s time in office. “Our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It’s not enough,” Obama said hours after the shooting at Umpqua Community College. “It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America — next week, or a couple of months from now.” ## Transcript It's a crime that would have horrified us had its victims been Americans of any background. But it's all the more heartbreaking and all the more despicable because the place where it occurred and the patriots who were its victims. Those who have been injured, we are rooting for them. And I know Gabby is as tough as they come. And I am hopeful that she is going to pull through. We may never understand what leads anybody to terrorize their fellow human beings like this. Such violence, such evil, is senseless. The majority of those who died today were children. Beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. We are confronting yet another mass shooting, and today it happen on a military installation in our nation's capital. Our thoughts and prayer were, are with the entire community. And we are gonna do everything we can to make sure that the community at Fort Hood has what it needs to deal with the current situation. There is something particularly heart breaking about a death happening in a place in which we seek solace. And you see peace. Somehow this has become routine. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] The reporting is routine, my response here at this podium ends up being routine. We've become numb to this. We have a pattern now of, of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world and there's some steps we could take not to eliminate every one of these mass shootings but to improve the odds that they don't happen as frequently. 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