WASHINGTON—With his emotional plea for America to embrace some gun control, President Barack Obama on Thursday thrust the contentious issue to the forefront of the 2016 presidential campaign just weeks from the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.
Speaking in the East Room at the White House Tuesday, Obama defended his executive actions to tighten criminal background checks. The president was moved to tears in an unusually emotional display during his announcement, saying “it gets me mad” every time he thinks about the 20 first-graders who were killed in the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school in December 2012.
While Republicans and Democrats are deeply divided on the issue, both parties see Obama’s actions as an opportunity to generate enthusiasm among primary voters.
But in a general election, the gun debate becomes a blurrier political proposition. Public opinion polls show Americans overwhelmingly support expanding background checks for gun purchases, but are more divided on the broader question of stricter gun laws. The gun-control advocacy movement has gained wealthy backers, including former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but the National Rifle Association remains one of the most dominant forces in American politics.
“It’s an issue that both (sides) are really going to want to talk about for the next couple of months, but I don’t know how much they’re going to want to talk about it in the fall,” Matthew Dowd, a former political adviser to President George W. Bush, said of the eventual presidential nominees.
