Barack Obama Weighs in After Boulder Shooting, Calls For Stricter Gun Laws While Biden Urges Congress to Pass Recent Bill That Aim to ‘Reduce Gun Violence’

Former President Barack Obama today called for stricter gun laws following the mass shooting in Colorado and bemoaned what he called a national tolerance for “these kinds of random, senseless acts.”

In a statement, Obama said that he and former first lady Michelle Obama are grieving with the families of the victims of yesterday’s massacre in Boulder, but also said they “are also feeling a deep, familiar outrage” for these types of tragedies.

Obama released the statement shortly before President Joe Biden publicly commented on the shooting, which took place at grocery store and left 10 dead, including a police officer.

Biden also called for tightening gun control laws in the wake of the mass shooting, less than a week after 8 people were killed during a shooting spree in Atlanta.

The president spoke at the White House before leaving for Columbus, Ohio and suggested that he may take executive action on gun violence.

“As president I’m going to use all the resources at my disposal to keep people safe,” Biden insisted.

Biden said that while he won’t speculate about the circumstances of the shooting, however, because he claimed that a lot remains unknown about the case.

Praising the quick response of the police officer killed, Biden said, “He thought he would be coming home to his family and seven children, but when the moment came, Officer Talley did not hesitate in his duty, making the ultimately sacrifice to save lives, that’s the definition of an American hero.”

Biden also called on the Senate to “immediately pass” two recent House-passed bills that purportedly aim to reduce gun violence.

The House passed H.R. 8 that would expand background checks on all commercial gun sales and H.R. 1146 to try and close what’s known as the “Charleston Loophole,” which allows some firearms to be transferred by licensed gun dealers before the required background checks are completed, earlier this month.

Obama invoked the pandemic in his statement and a tweet where he said, “A once-in-a-century pandemic cannot be the only thing that slows mass shootings in this country. It’s time for leaders everywhere to listen to the American people when they say enough is enough.”

<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A once-in-a-century pandemic cannot be the only thing that slows mass shootings in this country. It’s time for leaders everywhere to listen to the American people when they say enough is enough. <a href="https://t.co/7MEJ87Is3E">pic.twitter.com/7MEJ87Is3E</a></p>&mdash; Barack Obama (@BarackObama) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1374393037619523597?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>

“It is long past time for those with the power to fight this epidemic of gun violence to do so. It will take time to root out the disaffection, racism and misogyny that fuels so many of these senseless acts of violence. But we can make it harder for those with hate in their hearts to buy weapons of war,” Obama explained in the statement

Obama added, “We can overcome opposition by cowardly politicians and the pressure of a gun lobby that opposes any limit on the ability of anyone to assemble an arsenal. We can, and we must.”

Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke about the shooting today and called it “absolutely tragic,” but ignored a question about the future of gun control during a swearing-in ceremony for William Burns as CIA director.