Obama, Cruz square off anew over gun-control laws

President Barack Obama said the U.S. had grown numb to mass shootings and faulted lawmakers for failing to take action, hours after a 20-year-old gunman opened fire at a community college in southwestern Oregon.

Conversely, gun-rights advocates argued that such violence is made more possible by stronger gun-control laws.

In his remarks Thursday evening, the president said other countries had been able to create laws that almost eliminate mass shootings. He said that while Congress had passed “countless laws” aimed at preventing terrorist attacks, some U.S. lawmakers have blocked efforts to collect data on shooting sprees.

“Somehow this has become routine,” a visibly angry Obama said at the White House. “We are the only civilized country on earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months.”

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said earlier in the afternoon that tougher gun laws remained a “top priority” for the administration, while the president remained “realistic” about the prospect for new legislation.

The remarks were the 15th time that Obama has delivered a statement in response to a U.S. mass-casualty shooting, according to a tally kept by Mark Knoller, a reporter for CBS News.

The president said he embraced criticism that he was politicizing the violence, and that Americans need to make clear to lawmakers whether they wanted new gun laws.

“This is a political choice we make — to allow this to happen every few months in America,” Obama said on Thursday. “We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved ones because of our inaction.”

The president made a veiled reference to the National Rifle Association, the nation’s biggest lobby for gun manufacturers and owners. He called on gun owners “to think about whether your views are being properly represented by the organization that suggests it’s speaking for you.” The Fairfax, Va.-based NRA has lobbied aggressively to counter the president’s gun agenda.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican presidential candidate, has been a constant foe of Obama on gun rights and was true to form Thursday, declaring on a Boston talk radio show that “there is nothing a criminal likes more than an unarmed victim.”

Said Cruz: “Sadly, virtually every one of these shootings across the country has occurred in so-called gun-free school zones. If you look at the jurisdictions that have really strict gun control laws, they consistently have among the highest crime rates.”

Staff writer John Gravois contributed to this report.

This story was originally published October 1, 2015 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Obama, Cruz square off anew over gun-control laws."