THE SHOCKING TRAGEDY of yesterday's event in Austin is heightened because it was so senseless. While senseless, however, what happened is not without a lesson: that we must press urgently for the legislation now pending in Congress to help prevent the wrong persons from obtaining firearms.
The bill would not prevent all such tragedies. But it would help reduce the unrestricted sale of firearms to those who cannot be trusted in their use of possession. How many lives might be saved as a consequence!
The gun control bill has been under consideration in Congress for many months. The time has come for action before further loss of life that might be prevented by its passage.
I know there are many in Congress who share this view. In sorrow and hope, I urge them to join in passing this legislation.
Note: The statement was read by Bill D. Moyers, Special Assistant to the President, at his news conference at 11:50 a.m. on Tuesday, August 2, 1966, at the White House. It was not made public in the form of a White House press release. The President later repeated the statement for radio and television.
Mr. Moyers stated that the legislation referred to by the President was S. 1592, approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 22, 1966, and H.R. 6783, on which the House Ways and Means Committee completed hearings on July 28, 1965. The 89th Congress did not complete action on the bills before adjournment.
See also Item 363.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Need for Firearms Control Legislation. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239297