Obama Says His Biggest Frustration Has Been Inability To Pass Gun Laws

Just hours before a gunman opened fire at a Louisiana movie theater, President Obama spoke about gun control in an interview with the BBC.

"If you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I've been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense gun-safety laws," Obama said, "even in the face of repeated mass killings."

Obama continued: "And, you know, if you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it's less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it's in the tens of thousands. And for us not to be able to resolve that issue has been something that is distressing. But it is not something that I intend to stop working on in the remaining 18 months."

As we've reported in the past:

"President Obama tried to pass gun control legislation after the shootings at Newtown, which left 20 children and 6 adults dead.

"He made it a central part of his 2013 State of the Union address. But, ultimately, even a watered-down version of the initial bill failed to become law.

"As our friend at It's All Politics, Frank James, put it, the failure was a 'stinging blow' to Obama's second-term agenda."