Shocked kids clung tightly to plush toys donated by the Red Cross. (Reuters)
SORROW: The president addresses the devastated community of Newtown, Conn., at a vigil yesterday for grieving families and shocked kids, who clung tightly to plush toys donated by the Red Cross. (
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President Obama last night told the stricken residents of Newtown, Conn., who lost 20 children and six educators to a madman’s gunfire, “We can’t tolerate this anymore.”
“These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change,’’ he added, grimly noting it was the fourth time in his presidency he’d spoken to the nation about a mass shooting.
“The fourth time we’ve hugged survivors,’’ he said. “The fourth time we’ve consoled the families of victims.”
He did not mention the mounting calls for stronger gun controls in the wake of the tragedy, but noted, “There have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children. Much of the time, their only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.’’
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He predicted, “We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. . . .But that can’t be an excuse for inaction.”
He added, “If there is even one step we can take to save another child or another parent or another town . . . surely, we have an obligation to try.’’
He vowed to “use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens . . . in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this . . . We can’t accept events like this as routine.’’
The president asked, “Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is the price of our freedom?”
He told his grief-stricken audience, “I can only hope it helps for you to know that you’re not alone . . . that all across this land of ours, we have wept with you.”
Loud sobbing was heard from the audience throughout the speech.
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The president cited the heroics of the six Sandy Hook Elementary School educators who gave their lives trying to shield the children.
He closed by reading of the names of all those murdered.
Before speaking to about 1,000 people at the interfaith service in the auditorium of the town’s high school, Obama met privately with relatives of about 15 of those killed by 20-year-old Adam Lanza.
Additional reporting by Lia Eustachewich and Julia Marsh in Newtown, Conn., and Gerry Shields in Washington, DC