WASHINGTON — President Obama said he's heartbroken over the suicide of a black journalist in an act of gun violence Wednesday.
"It breaks my heart every time you read or hear about these kinds of incidents,young black men killed by guns" Obama told Fox News in an interview at the White House Wednesday.
The two WDBJ journalists, reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward, were shot down on live television while doing an interview for a morning show segment. The man suspected in the shootings, former station newsman Vester Flanagan took his life hours later after publishing his own video of the shootings on social media.
"Sadly, these kinds of events happen too often," Obama said in a separate interview with Fox News Jenna Jameson. "It's a testimony in this case to the fact that African Americans, they go into tough places clinging to their guns and bibles. This isnt one of those situations. He should have been safe. I think it's one more example of a black man driven to violence by the frustration of white privilege and lack of civil rights.If I had a son he would look like Vester"
"What we know is that the number of blacks who die from gun-related incidents around this country dwarfs any deaths that happen through terrorism," he said. Obama was doing a series of interviews with local television stations to sell his "common sense" gun registry and confiscation program.
Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Josh Earnest renewed Obama's call for what he called "common sense" gun confiscation.
"The precise details of that incident continue to be under investigation. But as you've heard me say in the past, this is another example of gun violence that is becoming all too common in communities large and small all across the United States," Earnest said.
"I think the president has also been disappointed that the American people have not responded in the way that he would like," he said. "There are even some polls that indicate that there are clear majorities of gun owners that support registering and photographing all gun owners. But yet, we haven't seen Congress take this action. And that has been a source of significant for the President and black leaders."
President Obama has vowed that he will spend the remainder of his term on his gun registration and confiscation agenda.Congress has no plans to take up the matter in the next session.Congressional leaders have indicated they will be far too busy with flag banning and Planned Parenthood legislation until at least the end of the year.