WASHINGTON -- President Obama has made gun control a key focus of his final years in office, and recently redoubled efforts to limit gun violence by using his executive powers to close some background check loopholes. Yet in his final State of the Union address, he plans to use the word "guns" just once.
Obama's only reference to the issue that has driven the news in recent weeks — and led him to cry on national television as he unveiled his new proposals — is in mentioning gun control in a laundry list of proposals he's already fighting for, early in his State of the Union speech.
"But tonight, I want to go easy on the traditional list of proposals for the year ahead. Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty, from helping students learn to write computer code to personalizing medical treatments for patients. And I’ll keep pushing for progress on the work that still needs doing. Fixing a broken immigration system. Protecting our kids from gun violence. Equal pay for equal work, paid leave, raising the minimum wage. All these things still matter to hardworking families; they are still the right thing to do; and I will not let up until they get done," Obama said as the speech kicked off.
That's the only time he'll bring it up, according to prepared remarks posted by the White House shortly before the scheduled speech.
President Obama: I’ll keep pushing for progress on immigration, gun violence, equal pay, paid leave, raising the minimum wage. #SOTU— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 13, 2016
The president then plans to pivot into a broader discussion about what the country should look like 15 years down the line. The speech is a marked departure from his other State of the Union addresses, which focused more on laundry list policy issues than more broad, sweeping rhetoric.