Obama: Pandemic can’t be ‘only thing that slows mass shootings’ in US
'We should be able to live our lives without wondering if the next trip outside our home will be our last,' Obama stated
Barack Obama has released a statement due to the recent shootings in Boulder, Colorado. On Monday, 10 people, including a police officer, were killed during a shooting in a Colorado supermarket.
On Tuesday morning, the former president took to Twitter to release a copy of his statement with a caption, reading, “A once-in-a-century pandemic cannot be the only thing that slows mass shootings in this country. It’s time for leaders everywhere to listen to the American people when they say enough is enough.”
In the statement, Obama shares that he and wife Michelle are grieving with the families of the victims, along with the families of the people killed in Atlanta the week before.
The statement goes on to say, “Because in addition to grief we are feeling a deep and familiar outrage that we as a nation continue to tolerate this kind of random acts day in and day out without taking any significant action.”
“In so many ways, our lives may soon start to return to normal after a long, difficult year filled with so much loss. But in a normal life, we should be able to buy groceries without fear. We should be able to go to school, or go out with friends, or worship together without mentally planning our escape if someone shows up with a gun,” Obama continues.
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He adds, “We should be able to live our lives without wondering if the next trip outside our home will be our last. We should. But in America, we can’t.”
As previously reported by theGrio it could take days for officials to fully investigate the incident. Ten people were killed in a mass shooting at King Soopers supermarket in what appears to be a random incident.
In a statement issued late Monday, Governor Jared Polis wrote, “Today, ten lives were tragically lost, including Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley. Officer Talley served more than 10 years with the Boulder Police Department and tragically lost his life at the age of 51 while working to save the lives of others.”
“And tonight, the families of these victims, our fellow Coloradans, my neighbors, are hearing the devastating news that their loved one who simply woke up and went to work this morning, or who ran out to pick up eggs, won’t be coming home,” he continued.
“Our community anxiously awaits more information on the victims, hoping it’s not our friends, coworkers, and neighbors but knowing in our tight-knit community it will be, and even if we don’t personally know them, we all mourn their senseless killing and our sense of safety in our local grocery store.”
Polis acknowledged how 2020 was a year of unspeakable loss and that the rising number of vaccinations against coronavirus had started to inject a sense of light into many communities, “only for the darkness to descend on us again today.”
Other than Officer Talley, the identity of the other victims has not been released. The suspected shooter has reportedly been arrested, but his identity has also not been disclosed.
The shooting in Boulder is the second mass killing to rock the nation this month. Eight people, six of them Asian women, were shot and killed March 16 at three different spas in the Atlanta area. Robert Aaron Long, 21, was arrested that day for the crime.
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President Biden is busy battling the COVID-19 pandemic but now his focus has pivoted to addressing the shootings.
“I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour to take common sense steps that will save the lives in the future,” said Biden on Tuesday at The White House.
He is urging Congress to pass gun-reform legislation.
Additional reporting by Biba Adams
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