Sandy Hook victim’s mother delivers the Weekly Address

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

From the White House blog, Weekly Address: Sandy Hook Victim’s Mother Calls for Commonsense Gun Responsibility Reforms:

This week’s address is delivered by Francine Wheeler, whose six year
old son, Ben, was murdered alongside nineteen other children and six
educators in Newtown, Connecticut, four months ago. Now, Francine –
joined by her husband David – is asking the American people to help
prevent this type of tragedy from happening to more families like hers.
Since that terrible day in December, thousands more Americans have died,
and thousands more families have suffered the pain of losing a loved
one to violence.

Now that the Senate has agreed that commonsense gun safety reforms
deserve a vote, they must finish the job and pass those reforms to
protect our children and our communities. Now is the time for all
Americans to help make this a moment of real change.

Transcript. Video below the fold.

President Obama: "Why I'm not giving the Weekly Address":

This morning, President Obama, sent the message below to the White
House email list, explaining why he asked Francine Wheeler to deliver
the Weekly Address. If you didn't get the email, be sure to sign up.

Hello, everybody —

Each week, like many presidents before me, I sit
down to record a short address to the nation. It's something I take very
seriously because it offers a chance to bring focus to an issue that
needs to be part of the national dialogue.

But today, I've asked someone to take my place.

Francine Wheeler is a mother. She and her family
live in Newtown, Connecticut. Four months ago, her six year-old son Ben
was murdered in his elementary school, along with 19 other children and
six brave educators.

Joined by her husband David, Francine shares her
perspective about the steps we can take to reduce gun violence and
prevent the kind of tragedy she understands all too well.

It's a message that every American should hear:

Watch Francine, then join her in speaking out to make our country safer.

This week, because people like Francine and like
you got involved, the U.S. Senate took a step forward on commonsense
reforms to reduce gun violence.

And that's good. Because this shouldn't be about
politics. This is about doing the right thing for families that have
been torn apart by gun violence, and for all our families going forward.

But we've got a lot of work to do before Congress finishes the job.

So if you believe that we can take sensible steps
to protect more of our kids from gun violence and protect our Second
Amendment rights, stand up and join us.

Just visit WhiteHouse.gov to get started:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/newtown-address

Thanks,

President Obama