President Obama said on Thursday during the CNN town hall on guns that first lady Michelle Obama once told him while they were on the campaign trail in Iowa that she might want them to own a gun if they lived in a rural area.
“At one point Michelle turned to me and said, ‘You know, if I was living in a farmhouse where the sheriff’s department is pretty far away and somebody can just turn off the highway and come up to the farm. I would want to have a shotgun or a rifle to make sure I was protected and to make sure my family was protected.’ And she was absolutely right," Obama said during the town hall, The Hill reported.
Obama said that most gun owners are responsible, while also noting that, in some areas, it is easy for teenagers to get their hands on guns.
"There are a whole bunch of law-abiding citizens who have grown up hunting with their dads, going to the shooting range and are responsible gun owners," Obama said, according to Time. "And there's the reality that there are neighborhoods around the country where it is easier for a 12- or 13-year-old to purchase a gun than it is for them to get a book."
The town hall, titled "Guns in America," came after the president unveiled a series of executive actions designed to curb gun violence across the country. Obama spent much of the evening defending his measures that he said were necessary given the lack of congressional action. Last week, Obama blasted Congress in his weekly radio address for not addressing gun control, citing the influence of the gun lobby in the face of popular public support.
"Three years ago, a bipartisan, commonsense bill would have required background checks for virtually everyone who buys a gun," he said, according to RealClear Politics. "Keep in mind, this policy was supported by some 90 percent of the American people. It was supported by a majority of NRA households. But the gun lobby mobilized against it. And the Senate blocked it."
