Former President Obama on Thursday said the public must remind itself that events like the mass shooting at a Maryland newspaper are preventable.
Speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Los Angeles, Obama said America is “unique in the weapons” accessible to “troubled of violent” people.
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“I am hopeful that each time one of these tragedies strike, we remind ourselves that this is preventable,” Obama said. “It is not inevitable, that America is not the only nation on earth that has people who are troubled or violent, but we are unique in the weapons those people can deploy, and it is costly.”
Obama added that the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md., “seems to happen in every few weeks, few months.”
“I am heartbroken for the families, obviously, the news organization that was affected,” Obama said.
A gunman opened fire in the Capital Gazette newsroom Thursday afternoon, killing five people and injuring multiple others.
The suspect was identified in reports as 38-year-old Jarrod Ramos. It was reported that Ramos sued the Capital Gazette in 2012 for defamation. But the case was thrown out by a judge.
Many Democratic and Republican lawmakers offered their condolences after the attack. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders condemned the shooting, tweeting that a “violent attack on innocent journalists doing their job is an attack on every American.”
Obama also commented on President Trump and his administration during the event in Los Angeles, saying that Democrats are right to feel concerned by the actions of the president.
“Do not wait for the perfect message, don’t wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you’re expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that somehow, ‘OK, I’ll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15-20 minutes it takes for me to vote,’” Obama said.