I thought President Barack Obama supported sensible measures to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children. Unfortunately, in his first year in office, the president showed no signs of leadership on the issue.
I understand the President had a lot of important issues on his plate; however, he has a responsibility to speak about the serious problems facing our nation. Gun violence is a major problem. More than 110,000 people are killed and injured each year by guns.
Time after time, however, President Obama evaded this issue. In fact, he signed into law more repeals of good gun policies than President George W. Bush.
The year started with statements being removed from the White House Web site that repeated support for gun violence prevention laws Obama had expressed during his campaign.
Then, after horrific, high-profile shootings last spring, President Obama and his staff studiously avoided any mention of guns.
When his cabinet members, Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder, expressed support for reasonable gun laws, they were quickly muzzled and forced to backtrack from those statements.
In May, President Obama, without any indication of concern, signed legislation letting people carry concealed weapons in national parks.
This fall, he signed legislation that allowed guns in checked luggage on Amtrak trains.
President Obama can still improve his record by taking action to make our families and communities safer, but he needs to hear from Americans across the country.
Please join me in urging the president to help solve the problem of gun violence.