Obama calls for legislation on assault weapons during weekly address

WASHINGTON, June 18 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama once again called for gun law reform in his weekly address following the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. on Sunday.

Obama referenced the Orlando, Fla., and San Bernardino, Calif., mass shootings as he called for restrictions on assault weapons noting that preventing such acts of terrorism "requires more than talk."

"Being tough on terrorism, particularly the sorts of homegrown terrorism that we've seen now in Orlando and San Bernardino, means making it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on assault weapons that are capable of killing dozens of innocents as quickly as possible," he said.

The president's comments follow a nearly 15-hour filibuster by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy to encourage Republicans to agree to vote on expanded background checks and some gun-control measures.

Rather than focusing explicitly on assault weapons, the proposals discussed on Thursday concentrated on measures that will stop gun access to those on terrorist watch lists and expanded background checks for gun shows and Internet sales.

Obama also vowed to continue to prevent attacks carried out by radicalized individuals and to continue efforts against the Islamic State.

"We are and we will keep doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks, and to ultimately destroy ISIL," he said, using another acronym for the group. "The extraordinary people in our intelligence, military, homeland security, and law enforcement communities have already prevented many attacks, saved many lives, and we won't let up."