On the podcast “WTF With Marc Maron,” President Barack Obama said we need “some common sense stuff that prevents a 21-year-old who is angry about something, or confused about something, or is racist, or is deranged from going into a gun store and suddenly is packing.”
In discussing the fatal shooting of nine parishioners inside Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, he said, “It’s important for folks to understand how hunting and sportsmanship around firearms is really important to a lot of people. Its part of how they grew up. Its part of the bonding they had with tier dad It evokes all kind of memories and traditions and I think you have to be respectful of that.”
“The question is just is there a way of accommodating that legitimate set of traditions with some common sense stuff that prevents a 21-year-old who is angry about something, or confused about something, or is racist, or is deranged from going into a gun store and suddenly is packing and can do enormous harm?” Obama continued.
“And that is not something that we have ever fully come to terms with,” he added. “And unfortunately, the grip of the NRA on Congress is extremely strong. I don’t foresee any legislative action being taken in this Congress and I don’t foresee any real action being taken until the American public feels a sufficient sense of urgency and they say to themselves, ‘this is not normal, this is something that we can change, and we’re going to change it.’ And if you don’t have that kind of public and voter pressure then it’s not going to change from the inside.”
Recoded in his garage in Los Angeles on Friday, comedian Marc Maron did a preview interview and clip for the New York Times. The entire interview will be released Monday.
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