Hannity Accuses Obama Of Misplaced Priorities On Gun Violence In Advance Of Visit To Oregon After Mass Shooting

Hannity Ignores Repeated Addresses About Gun Deaths In Chicago To Claim Obama Ignores Violence In His Hometown

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Fox's Sean Hannity accused President Obama of displaying misplaced priorities on gun violence, criticizing the president for planning to visit Oregon after the Umpqua Community College shooting and falsely claiming that he had never explicitly addressed the ongoing gun violence in his hometown of Chicago. However, Obama has repeatedly spoken out about gun violence in Chicago and the issues sparking it, and on the day following the Oregon shooting, Obama again referred to rampant gun violence in Chicago, saying, "[Education Secretary Arne Duncan] is going back to Chicago -- let's not forget, this is happening every single day in forgotten neighborhoods around the country. Every single day. Kids are just running for their lives, trying to get to school." Hannity has made a habit of criticizing the president for “politicizing” mass shootings by discussing gun control measures, most recently with the Oregon community college mass shooting and the on-air killing in Virginia in August.

From the October 7 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

SEAN HANNITY: So, according to reports on Friday, President Obama plans to travel to Roseburg, Oregon to meet with victims and their families of last week's mass shooting. Now, most likely with the hope of gaining support for his gun control push. But why isn't the president planning a trip to Chicago to discuss the spike in violence happening in his own hometown? Now, according to the Chicago Tribune, in September there were 351 shootings in his hometown. Now there's a sharp increase from the number recorded in the same month last year. Now, the irony of President Obama's hypocrisy is hard to miss. And even The Washington Post published this cartoon mocking the president's ability to ignore inner city violence. Now the cartoon depicts Obama saying it's time to start politicizing gun control in Oregon, while the tombstones behind him all say 'Chicago murder.' 

[...]

Why doesn't he talk about Chicago violence, Eric?

ERIC GUSTER: I don't know why he doesn't talk about it consistently. He has talked about it a few times. But he does need to do more.

[Cross-talk]

HANNITY: Has he ever gone out on the podium and ... the violence in my hometown is out of control.