As part of their coverage on the deadly shooting at the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Thursday’s CBS Evening News dedicated a segment to President Obama’s attempts to push through gun control measures after national tragedies.
With no victories thus far, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett lamented that Obama “appears exhausted by gun violence and the political stalemate” with those prospects after Charleston.
In a segment that saw no opposing viewpoint or discussion of the President’s proposals on the merits, Garrett started by pointing out that it is now “14 times” in which “President Obama has consoled the nation after a deadly shooting” and “call[ed] for action to reduce the violence.” With Wednesday night’s act of terror, Garrett stated that the President “painfully admitted” on Thursday afternoon “the limits of his authority.”
The former Fox News correspondent then walked viewers through three such tragedies with the first being the deadly 2011 shooting in Tuscon, Arizona that wounded then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). Looking back on it, Garrett observed that the President’s tone on Thursday was a “far cry from Mr. Obama's passionate push for gun control” following that event.
Concerning the school shooting in December 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, Garrett noted Obama’s description of that day as “the worst day of his presidency” before reminding viewers how: “Just four months later, Congress rejected and effectively ended the President's gun control agenda.”
Without getting into the specifics of how and why the proposals fell, Garrett cited “[t]hat defeat” as having “led to frustration and resignation, which boiled over again today.” Garrett concluded by explaining the steps the President has taken through executive orders before making one, last remark:
The President has taken 23 separate executive actions to limit actions to some firearms under certain conditions. Top officials say they've exhausted all executive powers on gun control. Scott, the President appears exhausted by gun violence and the political stalemate.
This retrospective of sorts by Garrett on Obama comes roughly seven months after a similar segment of his was aired on November 24's CBS Evening News concerning race relations. In that piece, Garrett stated that what took place in Ferguson “tested once more” Obama as he’s “willingly shouldered the burden of a nation fractured along racial lines” in the face of “unrealistic expectations of healing.”
Turning back to Charleston, NBC Nightly News fill-in anchor Savannah Guthrie only introduced Obama’s comments on gun control as part his larger remarks that Guthrie described as him speaking “to express the grief of a nation.”
Throughout Obama’s remarks and including when he referenced guns, still photos were shown on-screen of those grieving near the scene. Following the clip, Guthrie reiterated that “more than a dozen times he's had to speak after a mass shooting since he took office.”
ABC’s World News Tonight also did not go as far as CBS and only included a soundbite from the President’s remarks about gun control as part of larger report on what transpired Wednesday night and during the day on Thursday.
The relevant portions of the transcript from the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley on June 18 can be found below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
June 18, 2015
6:41 p.m. Eastern
SCOTT PELLEY: Today, President Obama expressed his sadness over the tragedy and his anger, as well. Here's chief White House correspondent Major Garrett.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I've had to make statements like this too many times.
MAJOR GARRETT: 14 times President Obama has consoled the nation after a deadly shooting. In every instance, a call for action to reduce the violence. Today, he painfully admitted the limits of his authority.
(....)
GARRETT: It's far cry for Mr. Obama's passionate push for gun control after the 2011 Tucson shooting that severely wounded congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others.
OBAMA [in 01/12/11]: We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of such violence in the future.
GARRETT: Then in December 2012, a gunman killed 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Mr. Obama called it the worst day of his presidency.
(....)
GARRETT: Just four months later, Congress rejected and effectively ended the President's gun control agenda.
OBAMA [04/17/13]: I've heard some say that blocking this stuff would a victory. My question is: A victory for who?
GARRETT: That defeat has led to frustration and resignation, which boiled over again today.
OBAMA: At some point, we, as a country, will have to reckon with the fact that this type of violence does not happen in other advanced countries.
GARRETT: The President has taken 23 separate executive actions to limit actions to some firearms under certain conditions. Top officials say they've exhausted all executive powers on gun control. Scott, the President appears exhausted by gun violence and the political stalemate.
