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Axelrod: Obama Will Enter Public Debate Over Gun Control

David Axelrod and President Obama

Conservatives, cling to your guns.

Well, not really. But during a roundtable discussion with reporters and liberal writers Wednesday afternoon, White House political adviser David Axelrod said President Obama will soon enter the gun control debate, his silence on the issue during State of the Union notwithstanding.

“There’s no doubt that he will,” Axelrod said in the West Wing’s Roosevelt room — it’s just a question of how.

“I don’t know exactly how he will approach it but obviously these issues are out there and have been accentuated by the tragedy in Tucson,” he added.

Axelrod claimed gun control and other issues — including campaign financing and housing — went unmentioned Tuesday night to keep what was already a long speech from getting out of hand, and to keep it focused on economic growth.

“It wasn’t the typical SOTU speech,” Axelrod said. “This is an important issue and he’ll speak to it.”

Barack Obama, David Axelrod, Gun Control, State Of The Union, White House
Brian Beutler

Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.

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