title:  President Obama To Critics Of His Tearful Address On Gun Violence: I Give Precisely Zero F*cks (VIDEO)
text: President Obama held a CNN televised Town Hall Meeting on Guns in America on Thursday night, during which he took a moment to remind those criticizing him for showing emotion that he gives precisely zero f*cks about their opinions. He is focused entirely on saving lives, and bringing the plague of gun violence under control.CNN host Anderson Cooper first replayed the President s emotional address for the audience. This is captured in the video below. Obama doesn t work up some watery eyes. He has tears literally running down his cheeks as he recounts the 26 people gunned down at Sandy Hook elementary school, 20 of them first-graders, and the devastation of the loved ones left to grieve the loss. His growing frustration at the intransigence of conservative lawmakers to give so much as an inch in the face of such catastrophic and preventable tragedies has been clear in each new post-shooting statement he has had to deliver to the nation.However, conservatives have concocted all sorts of bizarre conspiracy theories about what those tears really meant. One Fox host even went so far as to argue Obama was using a raw onion to produce the tears.So, when asked about the reaction, Obama took a moment to revisit his encounter with the parents of the children slain at Newtown. What becomes clear is that any human being with a functional level of empathy should be breaking down in tears in the face of such horror. I visited Newtown two days after what happened. So, it was still very raw. It s the only time I ve ever seen Secret Service cry, on duty.It wasn t just the parents. You had siblings, you know? 10-year-olds, 8-year-olds, 3-year-olds, who in some cases didn t even understand that their brother or sister wasn t going to be coming home.And I ve said this before. It continues to haunt me. It was one of the worst days of my Presidency. To those who argued he was crying about the wrong thing, the President had a straightforward reply: I want to emphasize that there are a lot of tragedies that happen out there as a consequence to the victims of crime, you know, there are police officers who are out there laying down their lives to protect us every single day, you know, and tears are appropriate for them, as well. And I visit with those families, as well, victims of terrorism. Soldiers coming home. You know, there s a lot of heartache out there and I don t suggest that this is the only kind of heartache we should be working on. You know, I ve spent a lot of time and a lot of hours, in fact, a lot more hours than I spend on this, trying to prevent terrorist attacks. It s a tough job, being the President of the United States. A role where decisions that are literally life and death have to be made every day of the week. America, and the world, need someone in the White House with the humanity to make those decisions with care and consideration. That s something to remember come November 2016.Featured Image via Screengrab