President Obama will not focus on gun control in his remarks at a Fort Hood memorial service, the White House said Tuesday.
The president will head to Texas on Wednesday, where he’s scheduled to attend a memorial service at the military base, where an Army truck driver shot and killed three soldiers before taking his own life last week. Another 16 people were wounded in the gunfire.
{mosads}In the past — and notably in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — the president has used gun violence tragedies to reiterate his call for an expansion of background checks and controls on assault weapons.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama’s “views on the need to take common-sense steps that address the challenge and problem of gun violence” had not changed, and he still harbored “extreme disappointment” after Congress failed to move on his proposed gun control legislation.
But, the White House said, the memorial service would “focus on the families of those who were lost and those who were lost themselves.”
“It is true that the president has attended ceremonies and services of this nature in the past, far too often, but they never become routine,” Carney said.
“The pain of the family members who lost loved ones is not routine; it’s unique in each case, in each instance. And I think the president is as heartbroken by this event as he has been on each occasion that something like this has happened in the country, and where he has traveled to participate in ceremonies or services that commemorate those lost and celebrate their lives.”
After the service, the president and first lady are slated to attend a Democratic fundraiser with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in Houston. According to an invitation obtained by The Associated Press, the fundraiser will benefit House and Senate campaign committees. Tickets range between $16,200 per person to $64,800 for a couple.