President Barack Obama argued that there are neighborhoods around the country where it is easier for a 12 or a 13-year-old to purchase a gun, and cheaper, than it is for them to get a book” and said he’s “been very good for gun manufacturers” during CNN’s town hall on guns on Thursday.
Obama said that in Chicago, “every week, there’s a story about a young person getting shot. Some are gang members, and it’s turf battles. Sometimes it’s innocent victims. Sometimes it’s happened just a few blocks from my house, and I live in a reasonably good neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. So, that’s one image, all right? talking to families who’ve gone through the pain of losing somebody because of violence in Chicago, gun violence. michelle and i are then campaigning out in iowa, and we’re going to farms, and we’re going to counties, and at one point michelle turned to me and she said, ‘You know, if i was living a farmhouse, where the sheriff’s department’s pretty far away, and somebody can just turn off the highway and come up to the farm, i’d want to have a shotgun or a rifle to make sure that I was protected and my family was protected.’ And she was absolutely right. And so part of the reason i think that this ends up being such a difficult issue is because people occupy different realities. there are a whole bunch of law-abiding citizens who have grown up hunting with their dad, or going to the shooting range, and are responsible gun owners, and then there’s the reality that there are neighborhoods around the country where it is easier for a 12 or a 13-year-old to purchase a gun, and cheaper, than it is for them to get a book.”
Earlier, Obama stated, “it’s useful to keep in mind, I’ve been now president for over seven years, and gun sales don’t seem to have suffered during that time. They’ve gone up. I’ve been very good for gun manufacturers.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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