The president was flanked by former Rep. Gabby Giffords and other gun violence victims. Obama laments 'shameful day'

Defeated and angry — and surrounded by Newtown families and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) — President Barack Obama blamed a gun lobby that “willfully lied” and senators who “caved to the pressure” for the defeat of his effort to pass gun control through Congress.

Obama blasted the Senate’s voting down the Manchin-Toomey amendment — a bipartisan agreement on background checks that was itself a compromise on a fraction of the comprehensive gun control package the president called for after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.


“All in all this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” Obama said in the Rose Garden, after walking to the podium with his arm around Giffords and hugged the relatives of victims of the December shooting.

( Also on POLITICO: Senate rejects gun control)

Obama directed much of his anger at Republicans and seizing the political high ground for himself and fellow Democrats as he called out the opposition for rejecting an idea that polls show 90 percent of people support.

“Ninety percent of Democrats in the Senate just voted for (background checks),” Obama said. “But it’s not going to happen because 90 percent of Republicans in the Senate just voted against that idea. A majority of senators voted ‘yes’ to protecting more of our citizens with smarter background checks. But by this continuing distortion of Senate rules, a minority was able to block it from moving forward.”

But if the four Democrats who voted no had backed it, they would have needed to peel off just one more Republican — which would have been much easier to do.

Obama echoed the words of Mark Barden, the father of a Newtown victim, who introduced the president by saying his delegation of parents of victims is returning home “disappointed but not defeated.”

( FULL TRANSCRIPT: Obama reacts to bill failure)

“This effort is not over,” Obama said. “I’m making it clear to the American people, we can still bring about meaningful changes for gun violence as long as the American people don’t give up on them.”

But, he said, the next step was largely in the hands of people outside of Washington. Obama several times mentioned the National Rifle Association by name and called on supporters to show the same level of sustained passion and energy as their counterparts who oppose gun control measures.

“Those who care deeply about preventing more and more gun violence will have to be as passionate and as organized and as vocal as those who blocked these common sense steps to keep our kids safe,” he said.

Obama said winning gun control measures will require a sustained effort and organization building to match the NRA and other pro-gun outfits. He urged people to rise up for gun control with the same force that the the NRA opposes it.

“They are better organized, they are better financed, they’ve been at it longer and they make sure to stay focused on this one issue during election time,” Obama said. “That’s the reason why you can have something that 90 percent of Americans support and you cant get it through the Senate or the House of Representatives.”

Obama said he needs that support.

”To change Washington, you, the American people, are going to have to sustain some passion about this and when necessary you’ve got to send the right people to Washington,” Obama said. “And that requires strength and it requires persistence.”

Obama thanked Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) for producing the bill. He thanked those who voted for it.

But in the next breath, Obama blasted senators who blocked the agreement and said they were cowed by “lies” from pro-gun forces. Obama, who spent the last week phoning on-the-fence senators to try to win their support, said none of the arguments against the bill withstood scrutiny.

“Most of these senators could not offer any good reason why we wouldn’t want to make it harder for criminals and people with mental illnesses to buy a gun,” Obama said. “There were no coherent arguments as to why we wouldn’t do this. It came down to politics. The worry that that vocal minority of gun owners would come after them in future elections.”

Democrats, he said, also “caved to the pressure and they started looking for an excuse, any excuse, to vote ‘No.’”

And Obama took a clear shot at Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who on Wednesday morning said the White House was using Newtown families as “props” in its gun control push.

“I’ve heard folks say that having the families of victims lobby for this legislation was somehow misplaced, a prop somebody called them. Emotional blackmail,” an incredulous Obama said. “Are they serious? Do we really think that thousands of families who lives have been shattered by gun violence don’t have a right to weigh in on this issue?”

Obama spoke in front of bank of cameras and reporters in the Rose Garden, and the mood was more sadness than frustration as the Newtown families that surrounded him wore anguished expressions, some clutching tissues and tearing up as he spoke. Gabby Giffords stood resolute with her hands clasped and her head nodding repeatedly.

Within an hour of Obama’s Rose Garden remarks his political arm, Organizing for Action, announced it is launching a “day of action” Saturday. Supporters in states with what OFA believes are persuadable senators will hold events and be urged to contact their senators.

“We won’t sit around and let Congress drag its heels while Americans are coming together to demand action,” OFA executive director Jon Carson wrote to supporters. “We won’t wait for the next Newtown.”

That’s how Obama framed things in his own remarks.

“I see this as just round one,” Obama said, pledging his administration would continue to pursue the 23 executive actions he announced in January, and that he would continue to lead the rhetorical and political fightto show politicians the consequences of voting against the amendment.

“I believe we are going to get this done,” Obama said. “Sooner or later, we are going to get this right.”

- Donovan Slack contributed to this report