President invokes politics in church murders

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks in reaction to the shooting deaths of nine people at an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, from the podium in the press briefing room of the White House in Washington June 18, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

President Obama touched on the subject of gun control during his speech, saying he’s had to make speeches like these too many times because “someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun.”
“We as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries,” Obama said. “It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency and it is in our power to do something about it. I say that recognizing the politics in this town foreclosed a lot of those avenues right now, but it would be wrong for us not to acknowledge it.”