Washington: In the rarest of the rare move, US President Barack Obama has asked the mother of a six-year-old killed in last December's Newtown massacre to stand in for him to address the nation this weekend. Obama's move comes as the White House continues it campaign to pressure Congress into passing stricter gun laws.
"The President has asked Francine Wheeler, who lost her six-year-old son Ben on that terrible day, to speak to the American people in this week's weekly address," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters. Obama typically delivers the address, focusing on a topic that's in the news or a policy the White House is pushing.
This week, Obama has asked Francine Wheeler to deliver the address instead. Wheeler and her husband, David, lost son Ben in the December schoolhouse shooting. "As we continue to debate common-sense measures to reduce gun violence and save lives, one thing that has been very clear is that nobody has a more important or powerful perspective on the issue than the families who have lost loved ones because of the scourge of gun violence," he said.
"The President has been in regular contact this week with the families of victims of the 12/14 shootings, and he believes their voices and resolve have been critical to the continued progress we've seen in the Senate," Carney said. It is one of the rare of the rarest occasion that someone else other the US President would deliver the weekly radio
11:00 PM, Apr 12, 2013
Washington: Two senators announced on Wednesday that they have struck a bipartisan deal on expanding background checks to more firearms purchases, an agreement that could build support for President Barack Obama's drive to curb gun violence. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Republican Senator Pat Toomey announced their pact on Wednesday. Subjecting more firearms purchases to federal background checks has been the chief goal of Obama and gun control supporters, who...
07:46 AM, Apr 11, 2013
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced a new $12mn television ad campaign that will push senators in key states to back gun control efforts, including comprehensive background checks. ...
10:25 AM, Mar 24, 2013
Supporters say this law could help prevent tragedies such as December's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, in which 20 students and 6 teachers died. ...
09:01 AM, Mar 09, 2013
Thousands of people, many holding signs with names of gun violence victims and messages such as "Ban Assault Weapons Now", joined a rally for gun control on Saturday, marching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. Leading the crowd were marchers with "We Are Sandy Hook" signs, paying tribute to victims of the December school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut Washington Mayor Vincent Gray and other city officials marched alongside them....
08:31 AM, Jan 27, 2013
With sentiments running high in favour of stricter gun control laws, US President Barack Obama on Saturday asked the Congress to speed up legislations for universal background checks for people trying to buy guns, and restoring a ban on military-style assault weapons. ...
04:59 PM, Jan 19, 2013
The recent massacre of children and their teachers at a Newtown, Connecticut, school saw the debate on gun law resume in the United States where more than 270 million guns are in public hands. India, incidentally, has the second largest number of guns (46 million) in public hands in the world. So, can India draw any lessons from the Connecticut shooting incident and should it enforce tighter gun control? Binalakshmi...
04:30 PM, Dec 19, 2012
After last week's carnage, students will return to Virginia Tech University on Monday. ...
01:24 PM, Apr 23, 2007
