Political Quotes

Barack Obama: All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington. The fact is, most of these senators could not offer any good…

On the recordApril 16, 2013
All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington. The fact is, most of these senators could not offer any good reason why we wouldn't want to make it harder for criminals and those with severe mental illnesses to buy a gun. There were no coherent arguments as to why we wouldn't do this. It came down to politics. The gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill.
Said by
Barack Obama
Democratic · Illinois

Editor's note · Context

President Obama criticized senators for voting against a bipartisan proposal to expand background checks on gun sales, stating it was a shameful day for Washington and attributing the failure to the influence of the gun lobby.

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