--- title: Florida Shooting: Barack Obama Calls For Gun Control description: The former President offered his sympathy for the victims of Wednesday's school shooting and called for stronger gun control measures. canonical: https://time.com/5160791/obama-florida-school-shooting/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-15T18:36:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:18:30.601Z article:section: Politics og:title: Barack Obama Calls for ‘Long Overdue’ Gun Control After Florida School Shooting og:description: The former president spoke out on Twitter og:url: https://time.com/5160791/obama-florida-school-shooting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta43d759b42449031/698927bc8fd2ee450435ab75/florida-parkland-shooting-school-17-dead-42.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: school-shooting-florida og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama Calls for ‘Long Overdue’ Gun Control After Florida School Shooting twitter:description: The former president spoke out on Twitter twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta43d759b42449031/698927bc8fd2ee450435ab75/florida-parkland-shooting-school-17-dead-42.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Barack Obama Calls for ‘Long Overdue’ Gun Control After Florida School Shooting  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Feb 15, 2018 6:36 PM UTC  The FBI and police agencies from surrounding counties responded to a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla on Feb. 14, 2018 The FBI and police agencies from surrounding counties responded to a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla on Feb. 14, 2018RMV/Shutterstock  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Feb 15, 2018 6:36 PM UTC Former President Barack Obama took to Twitter Thursday, not only to offer his sympathy for the victims of [Wednesday’s school shooting in Florida](http://time.com/5158678/what-to-know-about-the-active-shooter-situation-at-florida-high-school/), but to call for stronger gun control measures — something he had unsuccessfully tried to do during his presidency. “We are grieving with Parkland. But we are not powerless. Caring for our kids is our first job,” Obama [wrote on Twitter](https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/964185606803853314). “And until we can honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep them safe from harm, including long overdue, common-sense gun safety laws that most Americans want, then we have to change.” Obama’s brief statement was a contrast to that of President Trump, who [addressed the nation](http://time.com/5160126/donald-trump-florida-shooting-speech-transcript/) Thursday but did not mention anything about gun control. Obama, who was President during national tragedies like the [2012 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut](http://time.com/5061579/sandy-hook-newtown-history/) and the 2015 shooting at the [Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina](http://time.com/4622841/dylann-roof-charleston-church-shooting-victim-family/), repeatedly stressed the need for stronger gun control measures, but his efforts were rebuffed by Congress. In January 2016, the start of his final year in office, he unveiled [a series of executive actions](http://time.com/4167749/obama-gun-control-remarks/?xid=homepage) aimed at curbing gun violence, requiring that anyone selling firearms have a license and conduct a background check on people who want to buy them. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5160791/obama-florida-school-shooting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5160791/obama-florida-school-shooting/"},"headline":"Barack Obama Calls for ‘Long Overdue’ Gun Control After Florida School Shooting","datePublished":"2018-02-15T18:36:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:18:30.601Z","description":"The former president spoke out on Twitter","url":"https://time.com/5160791/obama-florida-school-shooting/","keywords":["onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta43d759b42449031/698927bc8fd2ee450435ab75/florida-parkland-shooting-school-17-dead-42.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta43d759b42449031/698927bc8fd2ee450435ab75/florida-parkland-shooting-school-17-dead-42.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"school-shooting-florida","caption":"Shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, USA - 14 Feb 2018","creditText":"RMV/Shutterstock","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":"https://time.com/5160791/obama-florida-school-shooting/","name":"Barack Obama Calls for ‘Long Overdue’ Gun Control After Florida School Shooting"}}]}] ```