77 DEEDS Words are not enough to affect change in America. President Obama followed up his speeches and public discourse with specific legislation to prevent a situation like this from happening again. President Obama’s legislation displayed moral leadership because it was designed to save other families and communities from experiencing the same fear as the people in Sandy Hook. While President Obama made combating gun violence a priority for much of his presidency, a major push came directly after the tragedy at Sandy Hook. It should be noted that while very little progress on gun control was achieved during President Obama’s administration, the act of presenting and pushing legislation showed moral leadership to the nation. However, the effect of the failure to create any solutions after Sandy Hook on the public conscience is so profound that terminology such as “since Sandy Hook” is now commonplace and has “become shorthand for an apparently broken system that allows unfettered gun violence.”24 The failure of the Obama Administration to successfully enact stricter gun control legislation or create major changes was apparent after another mass shooting, the 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting, when President Obama said, “Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response at this podium ends up being routine … . We’ve become numb to this.”25 In his concrete steps towards combating gun violence in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting, President Obama signed 23 executive actions to support the responsibility of caring for kids, “shield them from harm and give them the tools they need to grow up and do everything that they’re capable of doing.”26 These actions include “Improve incentives for states for sharing information with the background check system,” “launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign,” “Nominate an ATF Director,” “Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence,” “[d]evelop model emergency response plans for schools,” and many others.27 Each of the 23 executive actions would have limited, if any, impact on gun owners or those wishing to buy a weapon. These executive actions were signed to “give law enforcement, schools, mental health professionals, and the public health community the tools they need to help reduce IN THE AGE OF SCHOOL SHOOTINGS: PRESIDENT OBAMA’S MORAL LEADERSHIP
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