Gun Control Hot Topic Of State Of The Union, GOP Response
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. took center stage Tuesday night in both President Barack Obama's State of the Union address and the GOP response as both sides of the aisle continue the debate over gun control.
Several lawmakers wore green ribbons in memory of those killed in the December shootings as Obama pressed Congress for urgency in enacting tougher gun control measures.
"I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different," Obama said. "Overwhelming majorities of Americans - Americans who believe in the Second Amendment - have come together around commonsense reform - like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun."
"The families of Newtown deserve a vote," he said.
In the Republican response to Obama's address, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said other measures must be taken to reduce gun violence.
"We were all heart-broken by the recent tragedy in Connecticut," he said. "We must effectively deal with the rise of violence in our country. But unconstitutionally undermining the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans is not the way to do it."
Speaking Wednesday on "CBS This Morning," Rubio continued his argument.
"The problem is that everything the president is proposing would do nothing to have prevented what happened in Newtown and would do nothing to prevent further violence in the future," he said. "Laws are only followed by law-abiding people. The people who commit these gun crimes don't care what the law is."
But the gist of Rubio's overall message in his case for limited government was lost by many shortly after he made his comments about gun control during his response Tuesday night.
About 11 minutes into his address, the senator visibly broke away from the camera and his script for a quick sip of water.
The water break quickly gained notice online with comments and gifs of the moment popping up Twitter. Rubio himself posted tweet of his own with a picture of the water bottle in question, along with the hashtag #GOPResponse.
Rubio addressed the "water bottle moment" Wednesday on "CBS This Morning."
"When you talk, a lot it happens," he said. "It had been a long day of work. I had already taped an 18 minute speech in Spanish. I'm just glad the water was nearby, I don't know what I would have done without it."
Please share your thoughts below....
