as i enter into my last year as president i could not be prouder of the workthatwe ve donebut it also makes you really humble because you realize that change takes a long time. and a lot of the work you do is just to incrementally make things better so that 10 years from now, 20 years from now, the crime rate has gone down. so lonnie or sandy, did you leave there feeling positive about the future? absolutely. you know, this conversation needs to happen just like it did tonight. it s a shame that the nra didn t take the president up on his invitation to come and talk because the people that represented the nra, the ones that he asked them to ask him questions, and the president s answers was very clear and concise and to the point.
so i m part of a group, anti-violence group called brave. we go out in the community and do different anti violent things but we are stopped by funding issues. i think we need more groups like us and more funding put into groups that are guest violence or are trying to make a change against the violence. and other things such as like jobs. most of the people committing the crimes where i m at and getting the illegal guns and what they re doing is they have no other outlet. they have to do illegal things just to survive. yeah. we ve got to run. but thank you so much. happy new year to you and we appreciate you coming on cnn. that is brave of you, tre. see you guys soon. coming up, the parents of jessica ghawi one of the victims of the movie theater shooting in aurora, colorado.
years ago where he spoke in moderate tones but the essence of what he was saying he wanted to change america. tonight you heard a similar presentation. the president talked in moderate tones but if you get to the essence of what he is saying he wants to fundamentally change gun ownership and second amendment rights. how is that changing the second amendment is not unlimited and conservative members of the supreme court have said that it s not unlimited. by having people who don t have the mental capacity to carry or own a gun, how is that changing america? when the president talked about mental health reform and background checks or enforcing the current law, those are things that there is an opportunity for consensus. when you get past those conversations and he talks about his anecdotes of his problems with guns in america they would be solved by limiting gun ownership in america.
keep things secret, certainly in the united states. but there is certainly mistrust. that s what i was inartfully trying to get it with my question. by calling it a conspiracy theory i guess i wanted him to try to get at the fundamental distrust that so many gun owners have out there about further background checks or what the president would call common sense gun reform. you know the terrible toll that gun violence takes on families. but what was the most meaningful moment at this town hall for you? you know, there s not a you know, one thing that jumps out at me. you know, the wife of chris kyle, you know, someone who has served this country so honorably that he had to die in the manner that he did. i thought it was interesting to hear her question. i talked to her later and
the president made a lot of promises but this is a president who promised if you like your doctor you can keep him. isn t that with all due respect isn t that the exact opposite. the president was trying to give every american health care. he s not saying i m going to take your health care away and you can t get it. he is giving people health care. listen let me finish my comment. let me get the question in. you did not answer my question when i asked you how is that fundamentally changing america? by not allowing people who shouldn t who don t have the mental capacity not to carry a gun. i told you, the president talked about two or three things, metropolitanal health reforms and background checks that wouldn t change america. when you get past that he has proposed gun control laws, it would be a fundamental change. and the point i was making is that this is a president that has made promises before that he