--- title: Obama Says He Won't Vote for Anyone Against Gun Reform description: Even if they're in his own party canonical: https://time.com/4172330/president-obama-gun-control-support-election/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-08T00:29:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T20:54:06.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Won't Back Any Candidate Who Doesn't Support Gun Reform og:description: Even if they're in his own party og:url: https://time.com/4172330/president-obama-gun-control-support-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2933000a7cce4d9e/698878200b72e38a796e78dd/obama5.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Speaks In The East Room Of White House On Efforts To Reduce Gun Violence og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Won't Back Any Candidate Who Doesn't Support Gun Reform twitter:description: Even if they're in his own party twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2933000a7cce4d9e/698878200b72e38a796e78dd/obama5.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Says He Won't Back Any Candidate Who Doesn't Support Gun Reform by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:54 PM UTCPublished: Jan 8, 2016 12:29 AM UTC  President Obama delivers remarks about his efforts to increase federal gun control in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 5, 2016 in Washington, DC. President Obama delivers remarks about his efforts to increase federal gun control in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 5, 2016 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:54 PM UTCPublished: Jan 8, 2016 12:29 AM UTC President Obama said he will not “campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party who does not support common-sense gun reform,” in a [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/opinion/president-barack-obama-guns-are-our-shared-responsibility.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-top-region®ion=opinion-c-col-top-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-top-region&%5Fr=0) op-ed released Thursday. Though Obama has made clear he will continue advocating for gun control throughout the remainder of his second term, the president admitted defeat saying it’s clear gun reform will not happen in this Congress or his presidency. Still, he wrote, the whole of the U.S. has a collective responsibility to confront the crisis. “All of us need to demand leaders brave enough to stand up to the gun lobby’s lies. All of us need to stand up and protect our fellow citizens,” he writes. “All of us need to demand that governors, mayors and our representatives in Congress do their part.” Obama’s [op-ed](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/opinion/president-barack-obama-guns-are-our-shared-responsibility.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-top-region®ion=opinion-c-col-top-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-top-region&%5Fr=0) was published shortly before the President took the stage at a town hall event on guns in America hosted by CNN, and two days after he announced a series of executive actions on gun control. The two leading Democratic candidates for President, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, expressed support for the executive actions, making it unlikely that Obama’s ultimatum would affect a member of Obama’s party. In the editorial, Obama calls gun violence a “national crisis” that requires a “national response” and listed a number of examples of what he called “common-sense” reforms, such allowing consumer safety requirements for guns, conducting more research on the public health impact of gun violence, and making it easier to bring lawsuits against manufacturers.” The President also reiterated that all Americans have a role to play in reducing gun deaths, which he said claim more than 30,000 American lives every year. Read the full op-ed at the New York [_Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/opinion/president-barack-obama-guns-are-our-shared-responsibility.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-top-region®ion=opinion-c-col-top-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-top-region&%5Fr=0). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4172330/president-obama-gun-control-support-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4172330/president-obama-gun-control-support-election/"},"headline":"Obama Says He Won't Back Any Candidate Who Doesn't Support Gun Reform","datePublished":"2016-01-08T00:29:28.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T20:54:06.000Z","description":"Even if they're in his own party","url":"https://time.com/4172330/president-obama-gun-control-support-election/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2933000a7cce4d9e/698878200b72e38a796e78dd/obama5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2933000a7cce4d9e/698878200b72e38a796e78dd/obama5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Speaks In The East Room Of White House On Efforts To Reduce Gun Violence","caption":"President Obama Speaks In The East Room Of White House On Efforts To Reduce Gun Violence","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—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/4172330/president-obama-gun-control-support-election/","name":"Obama Says He Won't Back Any Candidate Who Doesn't Support Gun Reform"}}]}] ```